Gentle Persuasion
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Leo was tired. Discontent with the life he had lived for so long. Sick of the fighting and the violence he seeks something and winds up finding her. The only female outsider in the world that warmed him and made him feel whole. Leo/OC
1. Chapter 1

It must have been the full moon.

That was the only thing he could think of to explain what he had done as he had only a hazy memory of the life altering event.

It was October the seventh, 2011. And he had been feeling more than a little out of sorts for a while. _Discontent_ with the continued never ending fights, the rescues, the pain that came with being captured by enemies and having your body ripped apart piece by piece-

He wanted something more for himself and his family, but knew that he wouldn't gain that something without attempting to risk everything.

For instance on this particular night he and his three brothers were out on patrol.

His third youngest brother, Donatello, the inventor of their family had asked that they try out the walky talkies that he had made. Which meant that they had all had to split up so that they could cover more ground.

Mikey took the east side. Raph took the west. Don stayed in the north and _he_ headed to the south part of the city which consisted of Central Park and a few other places around it.

He recalled that he was distracted.

His skin was tingling strangely, his heart beating just a little bit too fast, his stomach was doing this odd flip flop- And his lower plasteron around where his sheath was _itching_ like a motherfucker.

He kept catching one of his hands straying towards his lower body- no doubt to scratch at it as he moved through the dark shadows of Central Park, his mind straying from time to time to the odd sensations he felt throughout his body.

He didn't feel right. Hadn't felt right since a few days prior to now.

But he hadn't wanted his brothers to leave the lair with Raph in charge. The temperamental male didn't do well with power of any kind since he tended to abuse it in strange and often entertaining ways.

He hunkered down in the bushes, in the dark shade of a small cluster of tree's and was about to move again when he heard the soft airy sound of a girl/woman humming softly as she walked by him. A heavy plastic bag of food clutched in one hand.

He blinked at her back, wondering what she was doing out so late at night in a place where people like her were often raped or killed. Sometimes both. Sighing softly he decided that groceries were no excuse and this female with no common sense needed to be watched and quietly made his way after her while sticking to the shadows to keep from being seen.

After all it just wouldn't do for him to be seen. Not when his appearance could _terrify_ just about any person in the city.

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The city at night was a wonderful, lovely but frightening place to explore. But it wasn't like she had much of a choice in _when_ she could go out since her dorm master had a bad habit of going mid evil on the ass of anyone who wasn't in their room by midnight.

Something that she had learned all too well her first few weeks of collage. Everytime she had been caught coming in late, her dorm master had put her through borderline hazing/torture that at one point or another had stripped her of her dignity and then some.

Of course this wasn't the typical hazing.

After all what person in their right mind would slip you something in your food or drink, strip you of your clothing and make you try to find your way back to campus when there was a high chance that you _could_ and in many cases _would_ be arrested, kidnapped, mugged, raped, murdered or even sold into prostitution.

She'd had five close calls with thugs wanting to use her for their entertainment. Two arrests for public indecency. One for having H in her blood and no idea how it got there.

Which was why she had decided to get out before she wound up like one of her dorm sisters, Cassy. A nice little country gal like herself who had come to the city to finish her education. Cassy had been found floating face down in the river down by the docks, several days ago after being led away by the dorm master in nothing but her bare skin and a berlap sack.

So earlier today before her classes had ended she had skipped three of them just to go to the office and withdraw from the school. She had asked for her records, her files, her credits and when her dorm master had come to see why she wasn't in class- she had called the police on the woman to get her arrested for what she had done.

However the dorm master seemed to have friends in high places. Which made her dangerous to be around. So after swearing to the cops that she would testify about some of the happenings of her former dorm, she had gone and collected only what she had felt she needed then had left to find an apartment using what money she had left.

After settling in she had rested for a little bit then upon realizing that it was dark and she didn't have any food, she had grabbed her key and rushed out to go buy some food before the corner stores closed.

She was walking by the pond in the middle of the park when she decided to stop. Not for long mind you, but just a few minutes to enjoy the night like she had used too before she had gone to collage and her life had gone spiraling out of control. She set her bag on the little wooden bench and then stretched her arms up over her head.

Ignoring the way her shoulders ached from carrying her furniture earlier. She dropped her arms back to her sides and stood there staring at the lake admiring the way the silvery light of the moon kissed the water's surface. "How beautiful..." She murmured to herself as she lifted one hand to push back at some of the wild silvery blond hair that had fallen into her face.

Tucking the strands behind one of her ears she sighed and then dropped down onto the bench and crossed her legs and made herself comfortable.

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He shifted uncomfortably, his sheath opening slightly. Letting some of the cool air reach his throbbing shaft as he clenched his teeth as if he were in pain. His mind going hazy for a moment. _Christ!_ What did he have to do to make this odd feeling go away? It wasn't like it was his mating season. He didn't go into that for another month. But the sensations while similar- were entirely different too.

They were more intense than anything he'd felt before.

_Maybe this is your body's way of paying you back for supressing your needs for so long... _It was a ridiculous thought on his part but at least it gave him a semi explination for what he was feeling, though he wasn't sure how his body paying him back for something that wasn't really necessary to occur. He was pretty sure that it wouldn't start with his skin itching in strange places among other things.

He was settled in the shadows of a cherry blossem tree, his dark blue eyes fixated on the females back. She seemed to be enjoying the view of the moon playing across the surface of the pond.

On a normal night, if he had been feeling more like himself- he probably would have wasted time doing the same. Just for a few minutes or so. But then again, he was armed and extremely dangerous and people tended not to mess with him unless they were either young, stupid, or had a death wish. But it was different for the female.

She wasn't armed. She appeared as dangerous as a bunny slipper. Her guard was down at the moment leaving her totally defenseless. Defenseless... this was a rare sight for him. To stumble across someone in the whole city who didn't have their guard up around him. Whether she was aware of his presence or not. It was still a rare sight considering that even his long time family friend April kept her guard up around him and his brothers.

He hadn't taken any offense to this, merely noting that it was the way she was with others.

But this female- something about her defenselessness tugged at his mind. So much so that before he realized what he was doing he was standing up and moving forward out of the shadows and stealthily walked up behind her and reached down and wrapped a hand around her throat. His grip firm enough to scare her yet not enough to hurt her.

He felt her jump a moment before she started to let her head fall back- "Baring your throat for me is a _huge_ mistake. For all you know I could be a murderer." He said roughly, automatically stopping her movement before asking, "Are you enjoying the view?"

The woman was quiet for a moment or so leaving him to focus on the fact that he could feel her heart beating under his fingertips. His heart sped up a little bit to match the pace of hers as she answered.

"The view is very nice. It's a welcome sight compared to what I've seen lately."

"Ah..." Leo breathed softly as he let his eyes drift closed for a moment. She had such a lovely voice that he found the light airy tone was soothing to his agitated mind. "Have things been so bad?" He asked curiously as he re opened his eyes.

"I quit collage today because my dorm master's fucked up humiliation tactics lead to the death of one of the girls I knew. So yeah... things have been bad."

"I'm sorry." Leo said, his gut twisting itself in knots at the sadness in her tone as he removed his hand from around her throat and instead tried to maintain contact with her by running his fingers through her silken hair.

_What am I doing? Exposing myself to a human?_ He wondered, not understanding why his normal _anxiousness_ or _caution_ upon being exposed, wasn't found anywhere in his mind. In fact his usual worries about endangering himself and his family were pushed back into the furthest corner of his mind.

It was as if for the time being they didn't exist.

Was that why he was still standing here with this human? Or was it something else? Something tied to the way he'd been feeling recently, maybe. "I can't stay with you much longer-" He said finally after a few moments of silence before continuing. "Why don't I walk you home? Since it isn't safe out for girls like you at this time of night."

"How do I know you won't pull anything funny once you get me home?"

"I'll give you my word that I won't do anything that you don't ask me too." She made a humming sound and uncrossed her legs and slowly stood up, her full height making her just a foot and a half smaller than him. He was lost in thought when she picked up her bags and turned around and gasped.

His eyes flickered to her face and he tilted his head to the side a little bit as his mouth curved up a little bit in a scary smile. "Scared of me?" She stared at him for a second then reached out with her free hand and put it against his shoulder, his smile faded as the warmth of her skin seeped through his own. Making him feel like he had been scortched through and through as she trailed her fingers down from his shoulder to his bicep and then further to his hand.

She had a curious expression on her face. A reaction that he'd become accustomed too over the past twenty eight years. It went right up there with fear and terror but of the many emotions or possible reactions he had expected- he hadn't expected this from her.

The second she was done exploring his arm and hand she shifted her attention to his shell and placed her hand in the middle of his plasteron, directly over his heart and gave a small push then drew her hand back away from his body and tipped her head back and giggled. Making him wonder if this female was just slightly off her rocker as he asked again in a more serious tone.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"You're a big guy...but no. You don't scare me at all." She said with a kind/innocent smile. He blinked down at her, his expression stunned and felt something warm in the center of his chest.

Leaning down a little bit so that he and the female were eye to eye, he then reached out a hand and gently cupped her cheek and studied her face in the dim light as he asked. "Can I keep you?"

She blinked at him and gave him a puzzled look. Probably wondering what he meant by his words.

Truth be told, he wondered what exactly he meant by those words too. But he didn't voice his concerns. Instead he merely took her bag from her hand and asked her to lead the way back to his place, pausing only long enough to add that she shouldn't worry if he disappeared for a little while when walking her home. He'd be right behind her the whole way.


	2. Chapter 2

Har har- thanks for pointing out the mis spelling.

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Her name was Tempest Cynster, he found out later on.

She was a third year dance major. Or at least she had been until she had been forced to drop out of her former college, earlier that day. It saddened him that she would have to find a new and possibly safer place to study dance for the time being. Yet at the same time he was already going over what he would need to do to keep her safe from her former dorm master.

He thought about giving her his shell cell and simply telling Don that he had lost it, but somehow he doubted his brother would be pleased at the prospect of having to fix him another one. Especially when it was just easier to track the one he had through the tracking device Don had built into it.

He supposed that he could trick Don into making Tempest a shell cell of her own by saying that it was for April. But again Don would just track it. And he didn't really feel like breaking into April's place to steal it and chuck it into the river or something.

That would leave April high and dry if anything happened and _that_ was just cruel. Especially when doing so could get her killed. He supposed that he could rig some booby traps in her place to keep her safe, but if he wasn't careful about what he used- Tempest, herself could get caught in the traps or hurt.

He made a humming sound as he climbed up the fire escape behind her. Making sure to stay close just in case she slipped and started to fall. "How are you doing back there?" Tempest asked as she paused to look down at him.

He tipped his head back to look at her and smiled faintly, her concern for his well being making the center of his chest feel warm and fuzzy. "I'm fine. Just worry about yourself Tempest." He said in a stern tone. She frowned at him but nodded and turned her head back around and started to climb again.

"Just one more floor and we'll be at my apartment."

"Alright."

"I may have to pick the lock on the window."

"If you need help let me know. Breaking into places was a specialty of mine due to my misspent youth." He said half jokingly, hoping to make her laugh. Tempest chuckled softly and slowly shook her head. Just what sort of person was she bringing home with her? She wondered as she pulled herself up on the outside of her windowsill and used one of her fingertips to slip under the window so that she could jiggle the latch until it gave.

"Ah-ha! Looks like we're in luck. The window just gave!"

"Shhhh... Keep your voice down or someone might look out their window to see if someone is breaking into your apartment." He said softly, his tone a cross between amusement and frustration. He would have face palmed if not for the fact that he was using both of his hands at the moment.

Tempest blushed in the darkness and coughed, feeling awkward as she pulled the window completely up and slipped inside so that he could come in behind her. He slipped his head and shoulders through, setting down her groceries and noted with faint amusement how she moved the food out of his way then grasped his wrists and tried to pull him inside only to find that his shell was stuck.

She got a morified look on her face as he laughed softly. This wasn't the first time his shell had gotten him stuck somewhere. In fact he had lost count of how many times his shell had gotten him stuck in someone's window. So it didn't bother him that he couldn't get completely inside to see her apartment. What he could see so far was that her home was simple.

She had a small kitchen, a fridge, a table- A couch just beyond the kitchen that probably doubled as a bed. No TV, though she had a sterio and a stack of CD's laying on the floor. "I'm sorry that you can't get in." Tempest said softly, meaning every word. His eyes flickered to her face and he smiled.

"Don't be. The next time I come here I'll definately manage to get in." He said gently as he nodded to her grocery bags then said, "You should go ahead and put those away. You don't need anything to spoil."

"I may have to turn on the light-"

"That's fine."

"But-"

"It's alright Tempest. The light won't bother me." He assured her and blinked when the apartment was suddenly filled with light. He must have made a sound or something because one second he was trying to let his eyes adjust to the light flooding the room and the next Tempest was right in front of him, his face in her small delicate boned hands.

One against the side of his face, the other partially covering his eyes. As if she were trying to shield him from something she felt was hurting him. It was a sweet guesture for someone that he had just met and knew nothing of him. But it was unnecessary.

Reaching up he grasped both of her slender wrists in his hands and pulled her hands away from his face and looked up at her face. She looked pale, shaken, upset that she may have harmed him in some way. "Don't look like that." He said in a pained tone, his gut once again twisting itself in knots. He couldn't stand seeing such a look on her face.

"I'm sorry." Tempest said in a distressed tone as a tear slipped down one cheek.

"Don't be. I'm alright."

"But you sounded like you were in distress-" She choked out as two more tears followed the first and slipped down her face.

"I'm not. The brightness of the light just startled me a bit." He said as he gave her a smile, hoping to ease her mind. She gave him a weak smile in return and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and moved slowly aside so that she wasn't directly in front of him anymore. Leaving him feeling cold and bereft as she quickly put her things away then came back and sat down in front of him again and tucked some of her pale hair behind her ears.

"How long have you been in the city?" She asked curiously. Probably feeling that she had made a fool of herself a few minutes ago and simply wanted to shift his attention to something else.

"I was born and bred here."

"Really? How come no one has ever seen you?"

"I normally don't like to be seen."

"Oh. Well I suppose that's understandable. I don't really like being seen by people either."

"Why?"

"They make me feel uncomfortable. Or rather, having somone stare at me makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I'm staring at you. Does that make you feel uncomfortable?" He asked curiously. Hoping against hope that he wasn't making her feel anything negative.

"Strangely enough, no. I don't mind you staring at me at all." She said with a grin as she reached out and put her hands against his face again and leaned down until her forehead rested against his own.

He closed his eyes and tried to memorize everything about this moment. Because it was the moment that would define him and his relationship with Tempest for years to come.

He opened his eyes and was about to ask her if he could kiss her- nothing too bold. Tempest didn't seem like a bold sort of girl. But something chaste and simple that he felt she would appreciate- when his walky talkie made a sound and Raph's voice snapped him out of his enchanted state. He and Tempest looked at each other for a moment.

His expression apologetic. Her expression shy.

"I'll come again." He said as he started to move to leave when he felt her hand on his wrist and paused for a second to look back at her. She pressed a key into one of his hands and blurted out.

"Fifth floor, apartment two hundred and four. Since you can't slip through the window. Come through the door." He closed his fingers around the key and smirked at her then a second later he was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

After leaving Tempest's apartment, Leo made his way to the rendezvous point which was the warehouse that rested over their lair. Where he would meet up with his brothers and see if they had found any trouble, take stock of wounds if anyone had them and then make their way to the lair where they would treat said wounds (again if anyone had them) and then unwind.

From the way Raph had talked earlier, he doubted that there were any wounds or injuries worth mentioning. So he took his time reaching the warehouse while trying to figure out what he was going to say to his brothers. And after much thought and consideration he decided that he would say nothing about meeting Tempest.

She was _his_ discovery. A rare treat that he had blindly stumbled across. He would _not _share her. Not even with his family.

At least not for a little while.

No, he intended to get to know his new friend- no wait, friend seemed a bit impersonal a word to dub Tempest. Maybe something more along the lines of 'special friend/potential mate' would be more accurate a term to dub her by.

He stopped running and skidded to a stop on the gravel rooftop he'd been about to jump from and looked down at the ground below.

Oh god where had that silly thought come from? He wondered before asking himself if he could really subject such a sweet, human female to being his mate? Could he really live with himself and his tattered honor if he did?

He wasn't sure. He didn't really understand what he was thinking at the moment.

He _liked_ Tempest. There was just something about her that tugged at his heartstrings. Something that sent his hormones skyrocketing out of control and made his protective instincts kick in. It was like she was a rare butterfly or bird, he wanted to shelter her. To keep her safely by his side for as long as she allowed him too.

This made her..._unique_ to him.

That and the fact that he had been able to forget his present unwell condition when he was with her made her unique. But just because she was unique to him, and he was already feeling attached to her didn't mean that his brothers, his father, or even his friends would understand or even share the same sentiments towards her.

No, if anything they would be hostile, mean, perhaps even decide that she was a danger to them and attack her with the intent to harm or kill her. He frowned. His expression thunderous. "I can't allow that to happen."

His walky crackled for a second before he heard Don's voice. _"Leo? Leo?"_

Sighing he grasped his walky talky from his belt and unclipped it and put it to his mouth. "Yeah Don."

_"Where are you? Are you okay?" _

"I'm fine."

_"Are you sure? You don't exactly sound fine. Are you still feeling unwell?"_

"Yes Don." Leo said from between clenched teeth. "I'm itchy. I ache in strange places and I'm not totally sure, but I think I was aroused earlier. I kept having to-"

_"Ew! Say no more." _Don said quickly before falling silent. Leo smirked at the walky for a second and clipped it back onto his belt. _That should shut Don up for a little while. _He thought in bemusement. Though he really wasn't looking forward to the physical that his brother was going to put him through once they were home. Nor was he looking forward to Raph riding him about his condition.

Whatever the hell was wrong with him.

He sighed, feeling a little tired from all his thinking and wished that he had thought to ask Tempest for her phone number or cell number so that he could have called her later and spoken to her before going to sleep. He was sure that he would have liked that very much.

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"Where's fearless?" Raph asked in his usual irked tone as he leaned his shell back against the wall of old empty crates behind him. Don looked at him as he switched on the tracking chip he'd planted in each of his brother's shell cells. Ever the prepetual worrier, Don was concerned about his eldest brother's condition.

His shell cell started to peep, and he pulled up the digital map he'd downloaded into his cell features and checked to see where Leo was.

From the looks of things he was only a half mile from the warehouse. Not too far that it should cause concern, but still far enough away where it would take him and his other two brothers a good ten minutes to reach him if something happened. God knew that Leo had a bad habit of getting into trouble when they weren't around to bail him out.

"He's a half mile from here. Signal isn't moving so I guess he's taking a little break."

"A break? You screwing with me man? Leo doesn't take breaks. He doesn't take breathers-" Raph growled as he pushed away from the crates, toppling a few over and making both Don and Mikey flinch a bit.

"Yes well, he's been feeling a little under the weather lately so..."

"You're joking right-" Mikey finally said, his sky blue eyes looking at his middle brother in concern. Raph was right. Leo never took breaks. Breathers. Hell, he didn't even stay down when he was knocking on death's door. "Leo never get's sick."

"Yes well..."

"Does he have a cold or something?"

"I doubt a cold would cause the symptoms that Leo was describing." Don said as he mentally went over some of the things that Leo had mentioned. It didn't sound like a natural condition. Maybe it was something environmental? Or chemical? Perhaps he was even overly stressed? Don sighed. He wouldn't know until he gave Leo a physical.


	4. Chapter 4

Happy mother's day ya'll!

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Tempest sat in front of her apartment window for a long time after he had left. Going over her day and night in her mind and wondering what a strange and sweet guy like _him_ had shown himself to her. To someone who knew what it was like to be an outsider- it simply didn't make sense to her. He had said that he hated to be seen. She understood this. Yet he had still shown himself...

Had he maybe grown tired of not being seen? Or was he searching for something or someone and simply stumbled across her?

_What a puzzling fellow._ She thought with a small sigh as she shifted slightly and then got up. Tomorrow she would need to go out again and get some things that she hadn't been able to get today.

The fake passports with her aliases, emergency money- at least a few thousand- enough to live on and possibly disappear with if anything happened. Hair dye. Maybe she'd go red or black or something. Come to think of it maybe she should go the extra mile and cut her hair too. She may also need to get eye contacts. Maybe she'd get lavender, red, or even electric blue.

She might need to have breast reduction surgery to alter her build slightly her build just in case her dorm master sent any unpleasant surprises her way. After all the best place to hide was in plain sight.

And then there was the place that she was currently staying in. It was in a trashy neighborhood full of people who would rather kill you than look at you. She needed to either get a weapon and security system or to look for a better place to stay.

She opted for the lesser of the two evils- a new place to stay. One that was a bit more, uh... She looked around the apartment, noting the cracks in the plaster walls, the black patches along the ceiling and the bottom of the walls. There was dust everywhere along with a short in the lights if the flickering from time to time was any indication at all.

"Definately need a different place to stay."

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"Okay Leo, breath deep like you do when meditating. I need to listen to your heart." Don said as he placed the stethoscope against Leo's plasteron as he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The coolness of the instrument not even registering with him as Don moved it from place to place and frowned.

Leo's heart was beating in an abnormal fashion. The pulsing was eerily similar to that of a human heartbeat. _What the hell is this? _Don wondered as he pulled the ear pieces away from the sides of his head and grabbed a needle and an empty tube.

"I'm going to take some blood and look at it Leo."

"Do what you have to Don. I don't care." Leo said in a tired tone. He felt exhausted and emotionally drained now that he was back at the lair. His heart and soul simply weren't here. They were with Tempest.

He wondered if she was asleep yet. Or if she was planning out her next move. He wondered if she would be home tomorrow night. Or if she would be in the park again, admiring the moon's soft silvery glow on the pond's surface. Well, wherever she was- he couldn't wait to see her again. He really couldn't.

He was so lost in thought that he never felt the prick of the needle as it slid into his skin. Nor did he feel the subtle pull of his blood being collected. He just sat there as compliant as a doll until Don was done. The gentle feel of his brother's hand patting him on the shoulder drawing his focus back to Don.

"Okay. That should be it."

Leo hummed. Not really caring one way or the other. "Can I go to bed now?"

Don looked a little bit startled by Leo's question at first but nodded his head anyways and stepped back as his eldest brother slid off of the table Don had salvaged. He stood there watching, his concern growing by the minute as Leo collected his weapons and headed out of the lab to his bedroom.

The second he was in his room Don looked down at the vial of blood in his hand and clenched his teeth in frustration.

This couldn't continue.

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She was scared. That was easy to tell from the slight shaking in her hands as she faced the intimidating young woman wearing deep purple and black clothing, sitting on the large throne like chair with the creepy armor next to it.

"Mrs. Novia to what do I owe the displeasure of this visit?" The young woman asked, causing the other to shiver as the shadows moved.

Novia hesitated for a second, and looked over her shoulder at the inky blackness behind her. She could sense so many hiding there. Did Kari plan to kill her? She wondered before saying, "I came to tell you about someone that you might be interested to know didn't conform to the regimen you set up to create new soldiers."

Kari tilted her head slitly to the side, her blue black shoulder length hair slipping into her face. "Go on."

"Her name is Tempest Cynster and today she went to the police about what we do to the people in our dorms-"


	5. Chapter 5

_Kari looked down at Novia as if she were an insect she'd like to crush and narrowed her eyes a little bit. Novia was an idiot. She didn't understand why the Cynster girl had been defying her. She didn't even know how she had managed to save herself from being brainwashed like the others. The acts of humiliation and cruelty were meant to break the girls. _

_To make their minds more controlable. _

_But Tempest had obviously already been mentally conditioned by someone to resist all things done to her. Which meant that she would need to be deprogramed. Something that mere humiliation tactics and cruelty wouldn't do. No conditioning this deeply seeded required a hands on approach. _

_Break a few bones, instill fear- and the mind will force itself to fall into line. _

_Still...the fact that she had gone to the police about the foot clans recruitment tactics was troubling. Just like Novia's mistake of killing one of the girls to send a message to the others in her dorm house was also troubling. After all she needed drones to fight for her empire. Not broken dolls. _

_"Tell me about Miss Cynster." _

_"She entered the collage on a scholorship grant. She majors in dance but I noticed that she had some martial arts training too. Perhaps from when she was a child. In fact I think that may have been part of why she chose dance as a her major. She liked the way martial arts masters flowed like water and wanted to somehow intigrate that into her dance routines. She's very laid back. She appears almost meek or shy, but I've noticed that this is a particularly puzzling form of behavior-" _

_"Oh why?" _

_"Because it's a forced behavior." _

_"She holds herself back on purpose?" Kari asked curiously. _

_"Yes. Very much so. But I've also noticed that when she lets herself slip she's practically a split personality. Her first month in the dorm my inital impression of her was that she was a shy, quiet girl who just liked to keep to herself. But at the beginning of the second month I noticed that some0one had been in my office. I lost my temper and put a gun against the head of every girl in the dorm and she's the only one that didn't react. The second the gun was against her head- She retaliated by grabbing my wrist and bending it back and disarming me and then took a bullet from the gun and tapped it against my head and said, Bang. I told her that I would kill her family. And she just smiled and left for a moment then came back with a shovel, dropped it at my feet and told me to have fun." _

_"She steals things. Small things that are barely noticable unless you really know what to look for. Like keys, pictures and ID's. She's passive aggressive in the extreme. All in all she isn't the sort of person you want knowing anything." _

_"And yet she knows what your doing... You're a fool Novia. But I thank you for bringing the girl to my attention. She sounds like she's just what the foot clan needs to rise to the top again." Kari said with a small hint of a smile. Now all she had to do was find the girl and figure out a weakness to exploit. _

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_Survival tactic number one- When someone is on your trail, lay a false one to buy you enough time to disappear. If there is something about your appearance you can change- do it. If there is something about your personality you can change, then change it. _

_If you have the means to defend yourself, do so with deadly force if it is deemed necessary. Don't think about it. Don't debate with yourself about it. Just fucking do it. Thinking could lead to hesitation and hesitation could lead to death. _

This was the first lesson that Tempest recalled from her earliest memories. One of the many, _many_ lessons of survival taught to her by her uncle Maverick. A former army soldier that had served in Iraq when she was just seven or eight years old.

Around the same time her parents had gotten caught up in some sort of trouble that had led to them needing to be removed from their home by the witness protection program. While at the same time giving her up for adoption to her uncle whom had just returned from his tour overseas, before they left.

Maverick had been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and severe parinoia. Both of which had led him to teach her everything he knew about survival and then some.

So the moment she woke up her official second day on the run had begun. Snagging a pair of pants, and a sweater to keep her warm just in case it was cold outside she quickly pulled them on, and then grabbed her shoes and the apartment key. Along with a small key chain that held the keys to several secret lockers in several banks across the state.

All of which held different passports, ID's and several rolls of fifty thousand that amounted several million dollars. Everything that she needed to live comfortably and disappear if she ever got into trouble.

A gift from her uncle for her eighteenth birthday. Just several days before he'd been killed in what the police in Arizona had believed to be a supposed robbery.

After slipping on her shoes Tempest headed for the door, planning to take two trains to the Bank of Manhattan where she would grab a few thousand from her locker along with some other stuff, then go get some hair dye and a hair cut, and some non prescription contact lenses. Maybe she'd pick up some new clothes. Nothing flashy because that would make her stand out more in her current neighborhood.

So she'd have to go to a thrift shop or a Goodwill store.

Sighing she locked the door to her apartment and started walking the dirty, trash filled hallway to the staircase where she took two steps at a time until she reached the building's door and pushed it open so that she suddenly found herself on the street.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry I forgot to post this little note when I posted the chapter-

I've had a death in the family. A great uncle from my dad's side of the family, who was 97. Now since none of you know that as of the 9th this month, it has been one year since my dads mother died a particularly gruesom death from brain cancer.

So the death of my great uncle has hit him pretty hard because there isn't anyone left alive on his side of the family aside from him and his siblings. So if my writing stops for a few days- that would be why.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Tempest walked up the steps leading out of the subway with her hands in her pockets and let out a relieved sigh as she took the last one. Say what one might about the subway being convenient, but it was also a frightening place. She wasn't doing that shit again. She'd take a taxi next time instead.

Stepping away from the stairs she turned left and started walking down the street.

Idly checking out random people, while picking up snippets of conversation. It may look like she was just being overly cautious but as far as she was concerned there was no such thing as being too cautious. Not when her enemy knew her face and could have hired someone to come after her.

Crowded places were only as safe as she made them to be. Knowing several escape routes helped. It also ensured that the enemy would only come after her- depending on their specialty that is. Although a truly clever enemy would take the people on the streets around her as hostages.

But she doubted that there were many people that clever.

She passed by an electronics store and glanced at the TV's in the window just for a second, noting that it must be close to noon since the news was on. But walked on before she noticed the opening story.

(**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Leo had barely slept a wink last night. His mind simply hadn't allowed him to rest as he should have. All he had been able to think of was Tempest and how beautiful, and adorable she was. Which was part of the reason he hadn't bothered joining his brothers for training this morning. He was distracted and being distracted during training could lead to severe and possibly fatal injuries.

So he hadn't bothered.

Instead he had planted himself on the couch and spent several hours staring blankly at the TV screen across from him. He had been sitting there for what must have been forever when he heard his brothers being dismissed from the dojo by his master/father and found himself tensing up a bit. Already anticipating one of them to grill him on why he hadn't joined them.

"Leo?" Mikey's voice sounded from somewhere behind him. "Bro are you feeling okay?" Mikey asked as he came closer until Leo could sense him standing right behind him.

"M'fine." Leo said automatically, his mind still miles away. Mikey came around the couch and sat down beside him and hesitated for a moment before asking softly.

"Do you want me to turn on the TV so your at least watching something?"

"Do what you want. I don't care." Leo said hollowly and nearly snapped, _What the hell do you want_, when Mikey gave him a pained look, stopping him cold as his youngest brother reached for the remote and turned on the TV then set the remote back down. And then got up and walked around the couch and headed for the kitchen.

Probably to fix breakfast for everyone. Not that Leo was hungry or anything. He simply didn't feel any need for food at the moment though he would make a point to eat something for lunch at least. If nothing else it would ease his family's concern for his health.

He continued to stare at the TV for several seconds, not really paying attention until a picture of Tempest appeared on screen. Confused about if he was daydreaming or halucinating, he blinked several times and leaned forward in his seat and frowned as he reached for the remote and turned up the volume.

_"After last seeing a classmate with the dorm mistress Mrs. Volia, a suspect in several other crimes. Including the murders of five COEDs, involvment in an orginized crime cartel ect- A former student of the collage brought Mrs. Volias crime to the attention of the special crimes division whom upon more investigating have discovered that Mrs. Volia is directly tied to the crime orginization known only as the Foot Clan." _

_"A crime orginization that popped up almost thirty years ago-" _Leo's eyes widened in apprehension and horror. The Foot? Tempest had been indirectly tied to the Foot through her school? How? Why?

He heard several pairs of footfalls behind him and turned his head to see his brothers and master standing directly behind him, their eyes fixed on the screen as the reporter said, _"If anyone knows where Miss Cynster can be found, please contact the police ASAP about her whereabouts since the Foot Clan is well known for removing witnesses to their crimes." _

Leo stopped breathing as his heat slammed against his ribs. _Oh no._ Tempest was in trouble. Serious trouble from the looks of the news report. He heard Raph hum then mutter, "That poor gal isn't long for this world." And nearly came up off of the couch swinging. How dare his brothers hear that report then just decide that they weren't going to get involved.

The Foot Clan was their enemy dammit! And if Tempest had left because she knew what they were doing then she needed their protection. He got up and tuned out his brothers whispers and muttered comments about the news report and headed to the door of the lair, pausing only long enough to grab his jacket and hat and walked out without a single word.

Unaware that his master had seen him go.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as Tempest was finished with her task at the bank, she headed further down the street to a hair salon where she was going to get her hair dyed and cut. After many hours of deliberating with herself about her new look she had determined what would be the best and broken it down into several alternate styles.

Style one- red hair cut along her jaw line. Style two- dark brown hair, permed, with loose curls that would frame her face and fall just a little past her shoulders. Style three- glossy black hair with blue highlights, cut just at the shoulder.

She figured that in order to complement the different looks she would have to so something like pierce her ears or get a tattoo. Nothing big and eye grabbing since something small and simple would do.

So after hitting a piercings store and buying a small gun to use to pierce her ears along with several pairs of 10 kt gold, sterling silver, and two pairs of dainty dangle pearl earrings.

Pocketing the little gun and the bag of stuff that she had bought, she continued on until she reached the hair salon and sighed and lifted one hand to touch her silvery blonde hair before pushing the door open. God she was going to miss her natrual color.

The second she stepped into the salon this teeny bopper that looked like she was no older than twelve greeted her. "Hello ma'am. How may I help you today?"

Tempest blinked at her and picked up one of the stands of her hair that was hanging over her shoulder. "I need a dye job, a perm and a hair cut. Not exactly in that order."

"I see. And what look exactly are you going for?"

"Going for?" Tempest asked stupidly, not liking how some of the people in the back had stopped what they were doing to look at her.

"Yeah. What color do you want your hair? What kind of perm do you want? And how much length do you want taken from your hair?"

"Oh. Dark brown. The darkest you've got. A loose perm where maybe it hangs in waves but curls at the tips. Those ridiculous spirals just don't suit me. And I want my hair to fall just a little bit past my shoulders"

The girl got up and walked around her desk to look her over, pausing just for a second to say. "You're hair would look better just styled a specific way. That way you could keep some of the length- maybe a little past your shoulder blades. We have a number of stylist who could make you up really nice. And it would be a hell of a lot easier on your hair once it's been dyed."

Tempest sighed. "Whatever you think is best-" She said, not wanting to waste any more time by arguing.

The girl grinned at her and called for someone named Helen and before Tempest could do or say anything else, she suddenly found herself being dragged into the back of the salon by a six foot seven, mullet haired woman who apparently bench pressed people like her for fun everyday.

(*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Leo had had no trouble getting to Tempest's apartment since he had only hit the street once he reached the building. And even if someone had seen him, they wouldn't have seen much as far as the green skin and bulky jacket. So when he entered the building and made his way up to the fifth floor where he found himself standing outside of Tempest's door, hoping that she was home.

Safe. Or maybe even still asleep.

Instead what he found once the door was open, was an empty apartment with the couch still folded down into a bed with the covers mussed. Sighing he stepped into Tempest's home and gently closed the door and relocked it so that he could sit and wait for her to come home.

He needed to know how she had been tied to the Foot Clan as well as what the hell she had done to make herself a target of the clans assassins. Sighing he stepped into the small apartment and tentatively looked for any sign of her things being moved or misplaced. Once he was assured that nothing had been touched or moved, he checked the one window to make sure that it was locked.

Then moved over to the bed and slowly sat down to wait for Tempest to come back so that they could talk.

(*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

The second Helen was done drying her hair, Tempest looked at herself in the mirror and was barely able to recognize herself. The whispy dark brown strands falling in her face went well with her teal colored eyes. _This may actually work-_ She thought as she scrutinized herself a little more closely in the mirror for a moment before standing up and digging out enough money to pay Helen for her work plus give her a well deserved tip.

Once that was done she waved bye to everyone then headed out of the salon to go buy some new clothes. She wouldn't need much. She could live with having just five shirts, three pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, two dresses and two skirts. Maybe she'd grab some makeup too.

She wasn't sure. But she'd see what she could find.


	8. Chapter 8

Turns out that you can find some nice, stylish stuff at the mall if you know where to go. She didn't bother with JC Penny's or Belk at first. Although she did think it would be a good idea to maybe have a look around there after she was done with Hot Topic and K-Mart. She went to K-Mart first, deciding to take full advantage of their clearance rack.

She had just gotten into the store and lost herself among the many clothing colors, styles and designs when she found her first few items and was putting them into her buggy when a couple of people walked by and noticed that they were staring at her really hard.

_What the hell is that about?_ Tempest wondered when another small group of people came around the corner and stared at her.

An icy sliver of dread slid down her spine. They couldn't know who she was. It was impossible. She tightened her hands on the bar that people use to steer buggys and tried to think of a way to get out of the store before someone approached her.

So turning abruptly she headed over to another clothing rack and looked through it and found a chic looking long sleeved emerald green shirt, and a black knee length jacket and grabbed them both.

Next she went over to the shoe section of the store and took a moment or so to find herself some black boots with three inch heels. Once she had all of those things she headed towards the fitting rooms and happened to pass a sunglasses display where she grabbed a pair of sunglasses, on the way there.

The second she was in the fitting room Tempest locked the door dropped her things and started ripping tags off and striping.

She knew it was petty, and perhaps bordered on stealing for her to be taking the clothes like this. But she had the tags for everything and already planned to leave some money behind to cover everything when she left.

So it wasn't like she was really hurting anyone. She merely couldn't stay in this area any longer. Not with the way people kept looking at her. Once she was done redressing she dug out the money, fake ID's, social security cards and the bag with the earrings and the piercing gun in it and stuffed them into one of her pockets and put the sunglasses on and stepped out of the fitting room.

Heading for the door at the front of the store she timed her exit perfectly. Waiting until the cashier at register five had his back turned and walked by and placed the ripped tags for her new clothing, sunglasses and shoes on the counter along with a five hundred dollar bill and walked on without looking back.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Leo cracked open his eyes and looked around his surroundings tiredly, part of his mind registering that he must have dozed off in Tempest's bed while waiting for her to come back. While part of his mind wondered how he had gotten there in broad daylight.

It was well after two p.m. now and Tempest still wasn't back.

Slowly pushing himself upright he put her pillow back in the middle of the bed and rubbed his eyes and looked around again out of habit. Why wasn't Tempest home yet? Had she gone in to talk to the police? Or had she run into trouble?

"I don't know what to do..." He muttered to himself, his anxiety mounting. _God I hope that she's okay. _He thought as he got up and decided to try moving around a little bit while he resumed his wait for her.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

It was close to three thirty when Tempest finally managed to reach her apartment building, her temper flaring a little bit after the run in she'd had with a guy on the street who had grabbed her and called the cops to inform them of her where abouts after she had come out of a store where she had managed to purchase two disposable, untraceable phones.

Needless to say that fellow wouldn't be grabbing random people on the streets again. At least not for a little while. She had broken his arm in three places and nearly broken his jaw too before finally dropping him and walking away.

Pushing open the door to the apartment building she walked up the stairs, needing to get back to her apartment before anyone else noticed her. By the time she reached her apartment, she felt a deep weariness and staggered a little bit.

_Crap._ It looked like all of the stress was finally getting to her. She felt more exhausted than she should feel considering that she went to bed fairly early last night after her new friend had left. She banged her head softly on her apartment door and dug out her key and unlocked it and started to turn the knob when the door swung open and she gave a startled squeak just before hitting the floor at the feet of-

Her large angry looking green skinned friend. _Good grief._ Had he been like eight feet tall last night? Tempest wondered as he stared down at her for a moment before reaching out and pushing her door closed before speaking.

"What did you do to yourself?" He hardly recognized her with her hair dyed, cut and styled in such a way. In fact she looked like a total stranger to him. She made a huffing sound and looked up at him.

"What are you doing here in broad daylight? I thought that you hated being seen." Tempest said. He gave her a pointed look and crossed his arms over his plasteron and waited for her to answer his question while ignoring hers. Finally she sighed and pushed herself up a little bit, causing some of her curly dark brown hair to slip over her shoulders as she answered his earlier question.

"I changed my look."

"And what was wrong with the way you looked before?"

"Nothing except I was more easy to spot." Leo blinked at her and leaned over a little bit and offered her his hand so that he could help her up.

"Did you run into trouble? Are you hurt?" He asked in a concerned tone as he helped her up and looked her over for any injuries.

"Depends on your definition of trouble. And no I'm not hurt. But there's a guy a few blocks over who may be sipping fried chicken through a crazy straw for a little while." He hummed and helped her out of her jacket and then folded it and set it aside and grasped her wrist in his hand and said quietly.

"Your picture was on the news this morning. Along with a report about a crime syndicate-" Tempest looked at him wide eyed in shock and horror. A crime syndicate? Seriously? "Tempest, your in trouble and I need you to tell me how you got tangled up with a crime syndicate like the Foot Clan so that I can help you."


	9. Chapter 9

"Wh-What a-are you talking about? I don't know anything about a crime syndicate." Tempest stammered out as all the color bled from her face and her body started shaking. Leo blinked at her response and wanted to press her further until she cracked and told him something. But just looking at her told him that she was being honest.

She didn't know anything about the Foot Clan. Or at least she didn't know consciously.

Subconsciously however was another story he could draw the answers out using the right questions, it would just take some patience. Shifting his hold on her wrist he gently grabbed her upper arm and maneuvered her over to her bed where he pushed her down into a sitting position then sat down next to her and said.

"Tempest, I need you to tell me_ why_ you dropped out of college. Why you've changed your appearance- And I need you to be completely honest with me because your life is now in danger."

"I-I- There was-" Tempest started to speak when she suddenly choked and seemed to struggle. Leo took one of her hands in his and spoke to her in a low tone, trying to tell her that it was going to be okay, and after another few minutes she was finally able to speak.

"I don't know anything about a crime syndicate... but now that I think back- the abuse, the humiliation tactics that were used on me and the others. It kind of makes sense. I mean that horrible woman Volia always seemed like she was deranged. The hazings she would put people through were unbelievable. Even I have been subjected to them on several occasions."

"What happened?"

"She was trying to break us-" Tempest said as she squeezed his hand. Leo blinked and waited for her to go on but when she started talking again it was a jumbled mess, she was simply talking too fast. "In the most painful and brutal ways. She would beat us. Drug us. Put a loaded gun against our head and threaten to kill us and our families. If we didn't stop disobeying her and her stupid house rules, she'd strip us and have us driven to warehouses where she would sell some of us into prostitution. Or throw us out in bad neighborhoods and leave us to be raped, mugged, killed-"

Leo was quiet as his mind absorbing as much of the information as it could while he was trying to maintain control of his temper. It was simply beyond his comprehension that a woman would do such _horrible_ and _degrading_ things to another woman.

"Why would your former dorm mistress do such things?" He asked after a finally managing to tamp down on his temper just enough to keep from leaving the apartment to pay Mrs. Volia a visit so that he could amputate her arms and legs.

"I dunno-" Tempest said quietly before continuing. "But if a syndicate is behind everything then the only reason that I can think of is that they need fresh blood. People who can no longer think for themselves. People broken by abuse, with drug habits, people who are driven by a deep rooted trauma or fear..."

Leo took a shuttering breath and gripped her hand so tightly that she hissed before reluctantly loosening his hold again and giving her an apologetic look. "Sorry." He muttered as his mind sputtered slightly under the implications Tempest had just laid out for him.

The Foot must be recruiting some fresh blood. Or perhaps drafting was a better way to describ what he'd just heard. Either way, it wasn't good.

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Don was reading the results of Leo's blood test while eating a donut for breakfast as he sat down, the print out in his free hand, his dark eyes scanning the paper for any signs of abnormalities. He got about half way down when he saw Leo's hormone levels and felt his jaw go slack in disbelief as his eyes widened. _Holy shit!_ There was no way that this result could be right.

If it was then it meant that Leo was dangerously close to losing his mind. His hormone levels were so high that Don was shocked he hadn't had a heart attack or something during self pleasuring! Don's mind came to a screetching halt for a second at that traumatizing thought as he wondered. Had Leo even been relieving himself? Don would think so but- _Oh god_.

"Not good. Not good at all." Don muttered to himself as he slowly, shakily got to his feet and then shouted so loud that he felt as if his ear drums had just started bleeding. Not even a second later his two other brothers and his father were standing in the door to his lab, looking ready to tear someone's head off when they looked around and noted that he was the only one in it they relaxed a bit.

"Donatello! What have I told you of shouting in such an unseemly manner. You nearly gave me a heart attack-"

"Where is Leo?" Don demanded, his tone slightly sqeaky as his father gave him a narrow eyed warning look for interrupting him.

Raph and Mikey both looked at each other and shrugged. They had no idea where Leo was. They had thought him in his room until about an hour ago when Raph had gone to see if he could pick a fight with him and maybe get him to act like his usual self. So it was Splinter who was left to tell Don the unfortunate news about Leo being out of the lair.

At which point Don screamed in horror, startling the three as the purple clad turtle moved back and forth across the large room that he had claimed as his territory, grabbing random things and putting them in a duffle bag before turning to Mikey and barking at him to go get the gag gift he and Raph had bought for Leo last Christmas.

Mikey stared at him with a curious look on his face, wondering what the hell Donny could possibly want the straightjacket for when Don suddenly stopped packing his duffle bag and moved across the room to stand in front of him and growled a furious sounding, _"Move it!" _

Mikey backed up, an alarmed look on his face and was about to run to get what Don had asked for when Splinter banged the tip of his walking stick on the floor and growled. "Enough! Donatello if something has happened then you need to tell us. Is Leonardo in danger?"

"Yes. No. I dunno. All I know is that he's sick and we need to find him fast!"

"Leonardo is ill?" Splinter asked, wondering why he hadn't been told that his eldest son was unwell up until now. "How ill is he, my son?"

Don looked uncomfortable then grabbed the papers with Leo's blood resuts on them and handed them to Splinter and pointed at Leo's hormone levels as Raph and Mikey both leaned down a little bit to see what had Don freaking out so bad. "Those are Leo's hormone levels. And they are abnormally high. I mean really, _really_ up there-"

"Meaning?"

"Has he's gone into season early?"

Don gave a dark sounding laugh and took the papers from them. God he hated being the smart one sometimes. Truly he did.

"This is not Leo going into season okay. think of it this way. Our bodies going into season is merely priming us for the real deal. An actual honest to god mating. I mean we were once just ordinary turtles- So it's not entirely impossible for us to be drawn to the females of the species that gave us the ability to walk on two legs and think and speak- after all we can imprint just like ducks and wolves."

"Whoa. Whoa. Hold on there brainiac- What does this mean? Speak idiot."

"Simply put. Leo's mind right now is consumed with finding a mate. He'll go as far as he has too to find her. All I can tell you is that once he finds her, several things will happen. One) He'll expose himself. Two) He'll hide her. Three) He'll build a nest for her. Four) will be the actual claiming- and that could either be difficult or easy depending on how long it takes for him to get a small taste of the female. It could be as easy as getting a kiss from her or a small taste of her blood- whatever. But once it's done, our brother will have a wife and he will not leave her. _Ever_."

Splinter gripped his walking stick tightly in his hand and exhaled a long drawn out hiss before saying in a shakey tone. "We must find your brother."

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"I need you to grab what you can carry, Tempest-" Leo said as soon as they had finished their little talk. She looked at him with those wide teal eyes that he had come to adore in such a short amount of time and he smiled at her as he said. "I'm getting you out of here before someone from the Foot Clan pays you a visit."

She paled a little bit but didn't question him. She just got up and ran over to the closet and pulled out a olive green cloth bag and put a few things in it then stopped and walked back over to him and sat back down and muttered in an embarrassed tone. "I didn't come here with much to begin with. I was going to buy some more clothes and stuff but people kept staring at me so I felt I had to get out of there."

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about Tempest. It was the right call. Now it's my turn-" He said as he pulled out what looked like a woman's compact and pressed a button on the side that caused the top to flip open and watched in awe as she realized that he was holding a hand made cell phone as he punched in a number and then leaned back, waiting.


	10. Chapter 10

April O'Neal was in a good mood today. No scratch that- she was on cloud nine. Casey, her on and off again boyfriend of the past three years had finally popped the question and put a lovely piece of antique diamond jewelry on her finger just a few hours ago. Before kissing her and going to work at the construction site where he'd gotten a job in secret over a month ago just so that he could get the ring and support her.

She walked by the window in her living room and giggled softly at her Casey. He wanted so badly to be a good husband for her and give her everything she could ever want. She just wished that the silly man would stop trying to break his own back and realize that all she wanted was him.

She stopped walking and looked down at the sparkling white gold and mine cut flower shaped cluster diamond ring.

"He really is something." She muttered to herself as the ring twinkled again. As if it were agreeing with her. She was about to head back to the bathroom to shower and get ready for her day when she heard the musical tone of the shell cell. It was Leo's tone. Old man by Redlight Kings.

It wasn't the sort of thing April would have thought Leo liked since he was the more quiet and somber of all his brothers but she recalled the secretive smile on his face the day he had programed the song into her cell. It seemed like forever since then.

But that was neither here nor there.

Walking over to the counter where she kept the cell she picked it up and flipped it open. "Leo?"

_"Hey April. How are you?" _

She smiled. "I'm good. You?"

_"Could be better. But then again I could be worse." _

"Your not in trouble are you?" April asked worriedly, picking up on something in his tone.

_"Not in the conventional sense, no. But I do sort of need to ask you a huge favor. The type that doesn't allow room for questions."_

April was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to respond to his condition for the favor. She knew Leo. Knew that once he asked, he'd owe her a favor in return. "Okay. What do you need?"

_"The apartment next to you- would you mind renting it out to someone?" _April blinked. The apartment next to hers? Would she mind renting it? She looked down at the ring on her finger again and smiled. The extra money would help put Casey's mind at ease and help pay for the wedding so-

"I don't mind renting it Leo."

_"Good. Think of how much your going to charge for rent and I'll be on my way shortly." _

"Uh...okay." April said before curiously asking, "Are you planning to move out of the lair?"

Leo gave a soft laugh from the other end of the line and reminded her sternly. _"No questions, April." _April was about to ask why he wasn't allowing her to ask questions, but the line went dead. Making a huffing sound she looked down at the cell and gave it her more ferocious glare. _Why that little-_ He'd hung up on her! Well, she'd fix his little shell.

She'd call the others and see what was going on. But she couldn't just call anyone and ask. No, she'd have to talk to the least guarded of her sewer dwelling friends. Mikey.

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Mikey was digging around frantically under his bed trying to find the straightjacket that he and Raph had bought for Leo last year, but had never given to him, and all he had managed to find so far was moldy pizza, left over apple rinds, papers that he'd sketched on, a woman's pair of crotchless panties- He paused with them in his grasp and frowned.

How the hell had _those_ gotten under his bed? And more to the point, Where had they come from?

He was pretty sure he didn't collect such things. Maybe they were Raph's and he was simply too embarrassed to have them in his room for fear that they might be discovered. Either that or he was really, realy, _really_ shy about his tastes. He was about to toss the half garment aside to continue looking for the straightjacket when his shell cell rang.

He jumped and gave a startled little scream. Earning a near ear drum shattering bellow from Raph whom was in the room next door. _"What did I tell you about screaming like a little girl Mikey!" _Mikey flipped him off knowing that he couldn't see through the wall then grabbed his cell and answered it.

"Hello?"

_"Mikey! Hi." _April's voice sounded from the other end. Mikey pulled the phone back just a little bit and looked at it suspiciously. Why was April calling him? When Leo was MIA no less?

"Hi April. What's up?"

_"I could ask you the same thing-" _

"Huh?"

_"I just got a call from Leo-"_ April said. Mikey made a choking sound and quickly got to his feet when April said._ "He said he'd be on his way over soon." _Mikey's heart stuttered in his chest and nearly stopped a moment before he went tearing out of his room looking for Don while advising April to either leave her apartment or call the National Guard to protect her until they could get there.

(**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Leo kept his head down as he and Tempest walked down the street together, his senses on alert yet he felt slightly distracted again with Tempest walking so close to him that he could reach out and touch her. And he might have if not for the fact that she was a little busy piercing her ears as they walked. Which left him carrying her things for the moment.

Not that he minded any. No what he did mind though, was her ears bleeding once she was done. Something in his shifted and strained at the smell of her blood. It was a peculiar feeling. Almost like being hungry yet not. He didn't understand it, but that didn't matter. All that mattered to him right then was that she was bleeding.

He stopped walking and slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her as close to him as he dared and brushed the dark strands of her silken hair away from one ear and then lowered his head so that he could run his tongue along the red, raw and bloody skin where she'd used the little peircing gun to push the sterling silver through her ear.

Tempest twitched and gripped his jacket as she felt the arm around her shoulders slip just a bit lower as he nuzzled her cheek then her chin to get her to turn her head so that he could lick the blood from her other ear. She twitched again as a shiver shot down her spine and he drew back a little bit, worried that he may have hurt her.

"Does it hurt when I do that?"

"N-No. Well, yes a little bit-" He drew back a little more, his arm starting to slip from around her when she said shyly. "But not exactly in a bad way." Leo stared down at her flushed face, noting the soft pink tint in her cheeks really made her new look work for her. And smiled.

He'd have to make her blush more often from now on.

Tempest cleared her throat awkwardly and muttered, "We should keep going." Snapping Leo back to reality.

"Yeah. We should." He said in a husky tone as he slipped his arm back around her shoulders as they both started walking again. They talked a little bit. Tempest finally asked his name and got a good laugh about where Splinter had gotten his name from. The two were so absorbed in each other's presence that they didn't notice that they were being watched as they passed an alley.

"Master Hun was that-"

"One of the turtle freaks walking with a pretty new friend." Hun said as he pulled out his cell phone and took a picture of the two as they passed his alley. Mistress Karai would be intersted in knowing that even freaks could hook up.


	11. Chapter 11

Karai looked at the image that her minion Hun had sent to her personal cell and for a moment tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Yes, it was an image of one of her enemies walking with a lovely brunette. But she couldn't tell exactly _which _turtle it was.

His head was down, and his face was more than partially covered by his hat. After all she didn't hold a personal grudge against all of the turtles. She held a personal grudge against just _one_ turtle.

Leonardo.

The general.

The heir to the Hamoto clan.

The _son of a bitch_ responsible for killing her father and single handedly nearly destroying her father's empire. He was the one that she wanted to take revenge upon and kill. Still, it was a rather nice picture. She could tell just from looking at it that whichever turtle was walking with the woman, obviously cared deeply for her.

It was noticable in the protective/possessive way his arm rested around her slender shoulders. She could even see it in the slash of straight white teeth in the image's smile. Yes this was a rather nice picture. And she planned to put it to good use the next time she wanted to destroy the turtles.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

The walk to April's apartment took an hour and a half on foot. An hour in a half of non stop conversation with Tempest that Leo would always treasure deep down in his heart. He knew that it was silly to feel as he did so soon when he knew so little about her, but he felt as if he'd found a kindred spirit in her.

Someone who understood him as no other- not even his family or friends could.

And while they talked he learned various things about her. Like how her parents had had to give her up to an uncle that had fought in a war and come back suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, and delusions that someone somewhere was after him. She told him about the camping trips where her uncle had taught her how to rough it.

She told him about how as she gotten older, her uncle had uprooted them and moved them multiple times and taught her how to disappear without a trace. She told him about his birthday gift to her when she turned eighteen. Before he had been killed and how she had come to New York to start over just one more time.

In truth Leo felt saddened by the fact that she had had to sacrifice so much growing up. Perhaps that was why he felt they were kindred spirits. She had sacrificed safety and security. Friends and bonds.

While he had sacrificed blood, flesh and bone. His own and his brother's and fathers.

He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze, trying to be comforting without overstepping his bounds. The last thing he needed was to make her scared of his presence since it would be a permanent fixture in her life from now on. Who knew, if he went slow and wooed her the right way- maybe she'd let him move in with her and eventually sire some little humanoid's on her.

Leo flushed under his coat and nearly tripped over his own feet and almost fell on top of Tempest. He was so damn _startled_ by the thoughts in his own mind it was just downright scary.

He caught himself and looked at her as she gave him a worried look and muttered a soft apology for nearly falling on her and managed to straighten his spine and looked ahead again.

They were just a few buildings from April's place when he felt his skin tingled like it usually did when there were eyes on him. Anxiously he scanned the street and pulled Tempest closer to him, hoping that he could better of protection to her if someone attacked them.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

April hadn't left her apartment as Mikey had advised her too. Don had told her to instead stay put so that they could come and collect Leo on their own since he would undoubtedly know something was up if she simply disappeared.

So she had gone about her usual morning routine, woke up, showered, dressed, ate, then had sat down to patiently wait for her extended family to arrive.

She had sat still for so long that she had dozed off while waiting and when she opened her eyes again Splinter, Raph, Mikey and Don were all in the apartment. Splinter and Mikey took up positions that looked vaguely like attack positions near the door, out of the way. While Raph and Don took up their places on either side of her living room window and were looking out when she heard Don swear and nearly died of shock on the spot.

"D-Don?"

Splinter and Mikey left their posts over by the door and all but ran across the room to the window as Raph let out a mean sounding growl as Splinter and the others caught sight of Leo walking on the side walk with a young woman pulled so close to his body that they could have been one being if not for the height and body type differences.

"Donatello?" Splinter said his son's name as he looked away from the sight. Don looked a little pale as he muttered another, much more tame oath followed by the words.

"We're too late."


	12. Chapter 12

"How can we be sure that we're too late?" Mikey asked, his tone a mix of of anxiety and giddiness that only he would be able to pull off in the midst of such a crisis. Don and Raph looked at him strangely. Don in an irked way. While Raph looked as though he were disgusted by this whole situation.

"Look at the way he's walking so close to her. He has his arm around her in a protective guesture but his body language is practically screaming, _MINE. C_ome after her and I'll rip your arm off and beat you with it." Don observed as April came up behind them and looked out the window. Still left in the dark about this whole situation, she was more than a mite curious about what they were talking about. And since she knew it involved Leo that only made her more curious.

She looked down at the streets just in time to see a large brown coat and hatted figure with a young brunette on his arm, cross the street and frowned. "Why is Leo walking the streets in the day?" She asked, her voice tinged with alarm.

"Don't worry about it April. I doubt that we could cover everything in under a minute-" Don said as he looked down to find that Splinter was across the room sitting on the couch looking distressed. And who could blame him? His eldest son was placing their _family_ in danger- was placing _himself_ in danger.

"Master?" Splinter didn't respond. So Don tried again.

"Master?" Splinter finally looked at him.

"Yes, my son?"

"What do you want us to do? Leo is on his way up."

"We will meet our new family member and observe how deep Leonardo's bond with her goes."

"And then?" Raph demanded, his tone still angry. Splinter shrugged his shoulders and hung his head a little bit.

"We will see what your brother intends. Then we will leave." April, still left out of the loop looked to Mikey to explain what was going on since she'd never seen the others look or act like they currently were, before.

Mikey leaned over a little bit and whispered, "Leo secretly sort of got married and everyone is freaking out because it happened really fast and we don't know anything about the girl." April's jaw went slack a moment before she turned her head to look at him, her eyes wide.

_Leo did what?_

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"So who is this friend of yours?" Tempest asked curiously as she walked up the stairs in front of Leo. Trying hard not to be stepped on by the large turtle since he was right on her heels and she was sure that being stepped on by someone who possibly weighed around three hundred pounds (most of it pure muscle) really wouldn't feel very good.

"Her name is April O'Neil. She used to work for a scientist named Baxter Stockman quite a while back. Around the same time she met me and my family. After that she got a job as a channel six reporter... She's nice. I think you'll like her." Leo said before continuing. "I didn't say anything before but since she's the one you'll be renting the apartment from-"

"If your about to ask about money don't bother. I have more than enough to spend on rent, furniture, clothing and food."

"But what about other things?" Leo asked.

"I really don't require much to get by Leo." Tempest said as they finally reached the last stair. He made a humming sound and reached for the door knob and pulled her back towards him to create enough room to open the door so that they could both slip through. Once they were in the hallway he pulled the door closed and reached out and tucked some stray strands of her hair back behind her ear then handed her bag back to her.

"Stay here for a second." He said softly, knowing that if April saw Tempest she'd ask questions that he didn't feel like answering at the moment.

He took a small step away from her then suddenly turned around and grabbed her hand, startling her a little bit, and lifted it to his mouth and kissed her palm. Then the inside of her wrist before releasing her and then walking off to knock on April's door. Leaving Tempest standing there blushing and staring at her hand as if she didn't recognize it.

Leo glanced over his shoulder at her and felt himself flush, warmly under his jacket. Her skin was so soft compared to his... "Next time, I'll try the lips." He said in a breathless tone as he stepped up to April's apartment door and knocked twice.

Tempest snapped out of her daze when she heard Leo knock twice on April's door and blinked. What the heck had that little palm/wrist thing been about? Was Leo maybe attracted to her? Was that even possible? Though it would certainly explain his protectivness towards her.

And why was her skin tingling in such a peculiar fashion? She wondered with a small puzzled frown before it dawned on her that maybe she was attracted to him too. She made an strained 'eek' sound as it occurred to her that she may be in some trouble here.


	13. Chapter 13

Tempest dropped her hand and leaned back against the wall and tightly clutched her bag in her hand and tried to think. She wasn't a firm believer in fairy tale romances and nonsensical notions like love at first sight. She was too much of a realist. But she understood things like chemestry, passion, hormones and such.

Which begged the question of _what_ exactly was Leo feeling?

Was he feeling chemestry? Passion? Hormones? Or did he simply think her an easy conquest because she was in a semi vulnerable state? Frankly she would have liked to ask him, but part of her worried that his action may have been her fault on some level.

Like maybe she had accidentally done something to make him think that she was interested in having a boyfriend.

Maybe she had used the wrong sort of body language without being aware. If so then she had led him on. Which meant that if she said anything she would embarrass them both and possibly do deep phychological damage to him.

And he was really such a sweet guy, so much so that she didn't think she'd be able to look at herself in the mirror if she hurt him. She was trying to think of what to do when it occurred to her that she couldn't just say no. After all it would be the same as discrimination.

And she had nothing against him for being a giant turtle or having green skin.

Besides, so what if he didn't have a normal life or job or family or friends- He was still a nice guy and if he really liked her then who was she not to consider him as a suitor? She heard the apartment door open and heard Leo speaking with someone before making a frustrated sound and turned his head and look towards her a second before calling out, "Tempest, we've been invited in."

She pushed away from the wall and tentatively walked forward until she was right beside him and peered into April O' Neil's apartment and saw a tall pretty red head, a large- Dear lord was that a mouse wearing a purple colored kimono, sitting on the couch? And standing behind the couch where the mouse sat, were three other giant turtles.

Leo's brothers no doubt.

She felt Leo's hand on the small of her back, giving her a light _push_. Indicating that he wanted her to go inside but she couldn't have moved even if she wanted too. Her feet felt strangely rooted to the spot. Leo gave another light push, again trying to get her to enter the apartment only to have her push herself back against him and grabbed his jacket with her free hand.

He looked down at the top of her head and frowned, wondering what was wrong. The others were obviously wondering the same thing as well, he could see it plainly in their expressions. Sighing, Leo wrapped an arm around her slim waist and picked her up so that her feet were no longer touching the floor and stepped into the apartment and said softly as he set her down, "Tempest this is April, and the others over by the couch are my father and brothers. Say hi."

Tempest looked the group over and gave them a shy _don't-kick-the-puppy_ sort of look and lifted a hand and waved and waited as the group sized her up.

She glanced over her shoulder at Leo and felt him move closer to her and hook a hand around her nape and lightly rub the skin under her hair. She shivered slightly and felt her grip on her bag loosen, but couldn't seem to tighten her grip in time to avoid dropping it. The dull thump startling her and Leo both into jumping back away from one another.

It was at this point that April and the others all exchanged a look while Splinter let his head hang a bit and muttered. "Crud."

"My sentiments exactly." Raph said in a disbeliving tone.

"Well, there's no helping it." Don said with a tired sigh.

"Alright!" Mikey said excitedly as he jumped over the couch and rushed forward to give his sister-in-law a real welcome.

He got about within arms reach of Tempest when Leo caught him around the neck with an arm and more or less pulled him to a stop. "Idiot, don't rush her like that! You'll scare her!" Then let go of Mikey after growling in his ear to move more slowly.

Mikey looked at his brother then at the girl and sort of did this slow shuffle movement over to her, casting wary glances towards Leo as he went then once he was in front of the girl he gave her an happy smile and quickly introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Mikey."

"Hi. I'm...Tempest- W-What's going on here?" Tempest asked in a low, nervous sounding tone. Mikey's eyes widened slightly as he looked at her then Leo. Oh this couldn't be good. Wasn't the girl supposed to know that Leo was her mate? He wondered as he held up one finger and slowly backed up until he was all the way across the room with the others again.

He tugged on the mask of the purple wearing turtle to get his attention then when the guy leaned down whispered something to him that had the fellow muttering oaths under his breath. "Tempest-" Don started to say when Leo fixed his attention solely on him and moved a little bit closer to the girl. "Uh... why don't you go with April into the kitchen and talk about...uh..."

April jumped in at this point. Attempting to lend a hand. "We can talk about the apartment you were wanting to rent. You know, what you might be able to afford to pay monthly. Things that you'll need. Stuff like that."

"Um. Okay." Tempest said as she gave Leo a slightly worried look. Leo shifted his attention back to her and caught the worried look on her face and smiled grimly.

"I'll be right here." He said softly. Tempest nodded and turned to follow April into the kitchen when she suddenly felt Leo move behind her and was suddenly picked up. She yelped and gripped his jacket on reflex as he buried his face against her throat and made a loud purring sound and caught the slack jawed looks that the others in the room were giving them before he put her down again and moved away.

"See you in a few." Leo said cheerfully as he waved her off. Tempest nodded her head mutely, unable to believe that he had just done that and made her way over to April and took the woman's hand and started babbling.

"Where is the kitchen? Is it this way? Please tell me that it's this way?"


	14. Chapter 14

"Where is the kitchen? Is it this way? Please tell me that it's this way?" Tempest babbled as April took pity on the young woman and led her out of the living room.

Leo shook his head and chuckled, finding it absolutely adorable that he could reduce his girl to babbling so easily when he heard a throat clear and stopped chuckling almost automatically, and cleared his throat as he turned his head to look at his father.

Splinter was looking at him with such a hurt expression on his face. Leo sighed and dropped down to one knee in front of his father as he thought, _Okay let's_ _get this over with,_ As his father reached out and gently laid his clawed fingertips against the underside of his chin and spoke softly, "My son-"

"Father-" Leo interrupted as he lifted a hand to grasp Splinter's wrist lightly in his hand. "I know what it is you want to say to me. But before you do, I want you and my brothers to listen. I have a little bit of a confession and it's difficult to speak of."

"Go on."

"For a long time now, I have had a deep feeling of unrest and discontent. I've felt empty and tried to fill the void by serving as the heir of the Hamoto clan- By protecting it and others from harm. But...the void is still there. And I've grown so_ tired_ of fighting constant battles that we never really seem to win. I want something more for myself and my brothers-"

"That is understandable my son. After all I was once a young man myself and know more than anyone the call of our natures. But-"

"I'm not finished yet father." Leo said, his tone chidding before saying softly. "I believe it's time to be on my own. To settle down and maybe have a family of my own." Splinter sighed knowing that his eldest son was setting himself up for heartache.

After all, even if he stayed and mated with the young woman- there was no guarantee that things would work between them for long.

Leo was a ninja. His life's calling was to be a protector. He would grow bored with a normal life, even with a family, and seek to rejoin the fray. Ripping him from his mate and the life he would have had with her. He would cause pain both to himself and his mate. It would be far better for them both if he could manage to talk Leonardo out of whatever he was thinking.

"Leonardo, I do not think it is wise to presue a relationship with a human female-" Splinter said gently, trying to sound understanding and stern at the same time without raising his voice. Leo opened his mouth to argue, his expression already looking pained as Splinter held up his hand and Leo's mouth snapped closed. But he continued to glare at his father with a betrayed/hurt look on his face as his father continued to speak.

"As lovely a person as Miss-"

"Tempest. Her name is Tempest." Splinter smiled faintly at Leonardo for filling in the blank despite the fact that he was sure his son would rather not speak to him at all right now.

"As lovely as Miss Tempest is, my son, I do not think she could handle being the bride of a ninja of your caliber."

Leo gnashed his teeth and wanted to snarl at his father that he was wrong. Tempest may seem defenseless but she had her own way of doing things and he was already sure that some of the survival training her uncle had put her through as a kid had been hand to hand and other forms of combat. She merely chose not to use them.

"And I think you're wrong. Tempest may look like a weak and delicate flower, father but she's no simpering miss. She's got guts and then some-" Leo snapped as he got to his feet and started pacing back and forth like a caged tiger.

"Leonardo-"

"No! Be quiet! I don't want to hear anything more about this!" Leo almost shouted, startling his father and brothers before he seemed to catch himself and suddenly went still and fell silent. "I'm sorry father. Brothers... I didn't mean to raise my voice. It's just that I don't think you understand how I feel. Tempest feels important to me. So much so that I can't stand being away from her, not even for your sakes. I want to be with her. Is that really so wrong?"

Splinter tipped his head back and looked at Don who closed his eyes and let his shoulders droop a bit. Damn. The bond between Leo and the woman was already deep enough to cause emotional distress in him if they were to try and seperate them.

(***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

April had just handed Tempest a cup of tea sweetened with honey and sat down when she finally managed to think of something to say. Unfortunately her words started out like the following, "So...you and Leo. How long has that been going on?"

Tempest had just taken a sip of her lukewarm tea as the words left April's lips and promptly choked on her drink. Reaching out April thumped her on the back several times in an effort to help her breathe again and then sat back when she started coughing. Then after that died down Tempest just stared at her with a confused look on her pretty face.

"I'm sorry. What was the question?"

"You and Leo, how long have you two been hitched?" April asked curiously, a warm smile curving her lips. Tempest blinked at her then stuttered.

"H-Hitched? As in married?" April looked at her strangely and nodded her head, wondering if the girl was playing with her.

"Yeah married. Mikey gave me a play by play of the situation."

"What situation?" Tempest asked curiously. April's eyes went wide as it occurred to her that Tempest was serious. Which meant that she didn't know why Leo was with her. Or what sort of situation he was in. The red head cringed as she heard the other woman's chair push back away from the table and closed her eyes as if expecting Tempest to slap her, and was surprised when she heard the other woman leave the kitchen and go into the livingroom where she heard her say in her most authoritative tone of voice.

"Leonardo Hamoto you are in so much trouble!"


	15. Chapter 15

Leo had been about to open his mouth to assure his father and brothers that he wasn't leaving his role as leader or heir of the clan. He would still patrol and fight if they needed him too. After all, he didn't want them to feel abandoned or get hurt, but no sooner than he had opened his mouth to speak than he heard a furious sounding.

_"Leonardo Hamoto you are in so much trouble!" _

Making an inaudible 'huh' sound he turned to look towards the direction of Tempest's voice and quickly moved himself back when she came barreling out of the kitchen looking like April when she and Casey had one of their famous rows. "T-Tempest?"

"You had better explain yourself buddy-" Tempest said in a furious sounding tone as she walked up to him and poked him in the chest with her index finger. He started to open his mouth to ask her what she was so upset about when she asked in a low tone. "What the hell was April talking about when she said that we were married?"

Leo flushed and blinked down at her with a stupified expression on his face, not quite sure he heard her right. Married? They were married? He and Tempest _sitting-in-a-tree-kissing_ sort of married? It was an _exciting_ and _dizzying_ thought.

He opened his mouth to answer her when he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Both he and Tempest turn their heads just a little bit and looked towards the couch where Don was standing with one hand sort of up in the air.

"I can answer your questions Tempest." He said matter of factly, his doctor persona firmly in place. Tempest considered him for a second then looked back at Leo. Or maybe she was glaring at him. It was a little hard to say with her dark hair falling in her eyes.

"Which brother are you?" Tempest asked curiously.

"Don. The techno geek/doctor."

"Ah, nice to meet you Don-" Tempest said before continuing. "As sweet as it is to have someone explain something to me- I think that Leo should say something first so I can use what you have to say to fill in the blanks." Don held his hands up in a placating gesture then fell silent again so that he could observe.

Leo looked nervous. And a touch hurt as he looked at Tempest. His electric blue eyes shadowed, his expression pained as he asked softly. "Does it bother you so much? Being bound to me?" He sounded so hurt and uncertain that Tempest could have kicked herself.

She had never meant to hurt him. She just wanted answers.

Tempest's expression softened. "No that doesn't bother me one bit-" She said honestly and almost smiled when Leo's eyes went wide. "What does bother me is that you married me without _my_ permission. Especially when we just met last night."

Leo looked at a loss for a moment, his gaze searching hers. "I-I don't know what to say or tell you Tempest. I have no way to explain what I feel..."

Don cleared his throat again and both Leo and Tempest sighed, both irritated by his interruptions and turned their heads to glare at him for a moment. _"What?"_ They both asked in an irked tone that had Don throwing his hands up into the air while Mikey snickered behind his hand, next to him. Raph's lips quirked in amusement and he ducked his head to hide his mirth and caught his father looking at him pointedly, his eyes narrowed, and wiped the amused look off of his face.

Tempest sighed and lifted her hands to massage her temples in an effort to dull the ache that had suddenly developed in her head. "Then I guess it's pointless to ask again. Besides it isn't like the deed isn't already done. So we'll just have to deal as we go along." Leo reached out and grasped her wrists and pulled her hands away from her head and kissed her forehead when she tipped her head back to look at him.

"You are taking this amazingly well, young one." Splinter said from across the room drawing Tempest's eyes to him as he patted the couch cushion beside him, bidding her to come and sit beside him. "Come. Sit. And tell me about yourself."

Tempest looked at him with a comical expression and tipped her head to the side a little bit and whispered, "This is a trap of some kind isn't it?" Leo, never one to pass up a chance to make someone paranoid whispered back.

"Yes. Definately."


	16. Chapter 16

Ah sorry that I didn't post anything on the 26-27th. The 26th was my B-day and the 27th I was recovering after getting only two hours of sleep the night before. I did however start this chapter and now...well, I think it's done.

So how about you all read it and tell me what you think?

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Tempest turned her head just long enough to give him a horrified look that made him grin then whimpered and slowly made her way over to the couch and sat down next to Splinter as April called out to Leo from the kitchen.

Leo glanced at Tempest, somewhat worried about leaving her alone with his family. Not because they were bad people mind you, but because some were more prone to violence than others.

Still, he went to the kitchen anyways. Leaving his Tempest to speak with his family alone in private.

Splinter waited until Leonardo was gone from the room before bothering to look at the woman that his eldest son had chosen as his mate. She was a lovely little thing. Perhaps just a bit more so than April herself. But there was more to her than appearance. He could sense it.

And it made him curious to know just _what_ it was about her that had his son so tied up in knots.

"My name is Splinter, Miss Tempest. But I suppose that since we are family then you may call me father." He said in his kindest tone, though he was a bit insencere. The woman sighed and said in a soft tone with a slight bite to it.

"Mr. Hamoto, you and your son's do not have to pretend that you like me. Or that you even care for me even though your son married me. I just want you to remember that I had no say in this situation either."

"We are well aware of that Tempest." Splinter said gently. Getting the feeling that his earlier words had somehow offended her. "But Leonardo has made it clear that he will not speak to us about the matter further. And as you said, 'We must figure things out as we go.' I merely wish to make you feel as welcome as I can so that I do not damage the relationship between myself and my son. He is very dear to us."

"Understandable-" Tempest said in a more relaxed tone as she leaned back against the couch feeling more tired than she had in a while. "I don't want to come between you and your son either."

"That is good to know." Splinter said with a small smile "Now, tell us about yourself child. Where did my son find you?"

"Uh...on a park bench in Central Park. Staring at the far east pond-"

"The one with the swans and cute little ducks?" Mikey asked almost excitedly, his voice startling Tempest so badly that she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Um, y-yeah. That one."

"Aww. I love that pond. There's this little ducky that will follow you around if you walk by-"

"You mean the one that runs up to you flapping it's little wings and looking pitiful so that you'll feed it?"

"Yeah that's the one-"

"Some kids shot it with a slingshot and broke one of it's legs."

**_"What?"_ **Mikey shrieked in outrage as he jumped over the couch causing both Splinter and Tempest to duck their heads to keep from being hit by his shell. "B-But how will it swim?"

"I'm not totally sure but I think it can float so it doesn't really need to swim."

"How will it catch fishies?"

"Probably the same way it always has."

"But it was so cute-"

"Chill out-er Mikey?" Mikey looked at her as if he were about to cry, his baby blues swiming. _Geez, how old is this guy? He acts like an overly excitable twelve year old. _Tempest thought as she continued speaking. "The little ducky was taken care of by a friend of mine a few weeks ago. The little guy is walking _and_ following strangers just like he used too."

"Really?" Mikey asked, looking doubtful. Tempest smiled at him and nodded as April came out of the kitchen and asked anyone if they wanted a drink or something to eat as she handed Tempest the drink that she had never finished.

Tempest thanked her and took the glass from her as the red head looked at her strangely then said. "Leo said that you need to eat something since you were up and about really early this morning. So...hungry?" April asked anxiously. Tempest looked at the others and noted that they were watching her in a peculiar fashion and hesitated before saying politely.

"Uh...no not really. I thank you for the offer though."

"You sure? He's cooking." April said and was nearly bowled over by Mikey as he ran by her and out of the livingroom yelling.

"Dammit Leo! How many times have I- AGGGHHH! Fire! _Fire_!"

April blanched a little bit and gave Tempest a nervous/hysterical little giggle as Tempest set her glass down on the coffee table and peeked around the corner of the couch just in time to see the black smoke. "Should we be worried?" She asked, concern coloring her tone.

"Nah. It's just the toaster. Everything else will be eatable, I swear." April said as she made a criss cross motion over her chest with her finger tips. Getting the gist of the gesture Tempest settled back against the couch again and asked,

"Does anyone else want to steer the conversation away from all things involving flames?"

"Sure." The red masked turtle said from behind her in a rough bronx accented voice that was cold with a hint of something that Tempest couldn't quite place but was sure that she already didn't like. "How about you tell us what you do for a living?"

"Do? I was a college student up until yesterday."

"And what exactly happened? Are you still a student? Because your voice suggests otherwise. What's wrong dolly? Couldn't stand the pressure?" Said that rough voice in a mocking tone meant to cut her self confidense to shreds and make her feel weak. Tempest felt herself flush a little bit in anger and slowly stood up and turned to face the red masked turtle and hissed.

"I don't have to justify my actions to someone acting like a whiny little bitch just because their big bro got hitched. Now step off or _I will hurt you_." April and the others all gaped at her like she was nuts as Raph stepped up and closed the little bit of distance the couch created by leaning over it, their eyes still locked. Smoldering amber to dark smokey teal and growled angrily before saying.

"You better hope that I never see you alone in a dark alley princess-"

Tempest gave Raph a dark smile that sent a chill down Splinter, Don, and April's spines as she said softly. "Ditto... _Princess_."


	17. Chapter 17

"I don't have to justify my actions to someone acting like a whiny little bitch just because his big bro got hitched. Now step off or _I will hurt you_." April and the others all gaped at her like she was nuts as Raph stepped up and closed the little bit of distance the couch created by leaning over it, locked eyes with her.

Smoldering amber to dark smokey teal and growled angrily before saying.

"You better hope that I never see you alone in a dark alley princess-"

Tempest gave Raph a dark smile that sent a chill down Splinter, Don, and April's spines as she said growled back at him. "Ditto... _Princess_." Shocking the hell out of everyone in the room but Raph who let out another low growl, trying his hardest to impress upon the doll like human female that not only could he_ hurt_ her badly but he could _kill_ her too if he was truly of a mind too.

However Tempest wasn't impressed.

In fact, if anything _he_ was the one getting the impressions. He felt like he was staring down something that he really didn't want to tangle with.

Like the little human really could hurt him if she was of a mind too and she was just _one_ small push away from jumping over the couch and doing so. And though he usually responded to such feelings with more anger and aggression- for some odd reason he backed down.

Straightening his spine he took a small step back from the couch, his eyes never leaving the female's. _Damn but she has guts_. He thought almost in awe as his elder brother came out of the kitchen to check on his mate.

"Tempest?" Leo said her name gently as he walked up to her and glanced from her to Raph and frowned a little bit before she turned her eyes to him and suddenly seemed more relaxed than she had been a second ago as Leo reached her side and she automatically focused completely on him as he wrapped his arms around her whispering softly, coaxingly. "Is everything okay? Are you uncomfortable? Tired? If anything is wrong you need to tell me."

"Nothing's wrong Leo. I'm fine." Tempest said, her voice shaking slightly.

"You sound distressed. Are you sure that your okay?" He asked softly, his lips lightly brushing along the curve of her cheek. Tempest sighed and leaned a little more fully against Leo, felling the stress of the past two days catching up to her in a bad way. Her head was starting to hurt and she was starting to feel dizzy and ill from lack of sleep, food, and so on.

And after having her little stare down with his brother she was feeling a little bit more raw than she had before.

"Actually no. I don't feel very well at the moment..." Tempest said as she sighed tiredly then pushed away from Leo a little bit and looked at April. "Do you think we can talk rent and go see the apartment? I'm kind of got the headache from hell." Tempest said to April in a half joking tone, trying to down play how badly she was starting to feel.

"Oh um, I actually don't know how high or low to set the rent so-" April said awkwardly as her voice trailed off and she blushed. Tempest half turned in Leo's arms and smiled at the red head.

"Set it as high as you feel right with. Money isn't an issue for me since I'm pretty well off."

"Oh, so your like a heiress or something? Or did your parents just set you up really well?" April asked curiously.

"Niether. My parents more or less put me up for adoption after abandoning me and running off to places unknown. They never called. Or wrote. So it was just me and my good ol partially crazy uncle. _He's_ the one who set me up for life money wise, that is."

"Among other things." Leo murmured as he let his hands settle on her hips. At hearing this April and the others all began to speculate in their minds why parents would abandon a child and run off. While Raph on the other hand was speculating that Tempest in some way was from a hell dimention, and her parents had abandoned her hoping that she would die.

In fact the very idea held him silent for some time while the Tempest and April concluded their negotiations for the apartment next door and took the key to go look at it while Leo remained behind with them for a little while longer. "You'll drop by and visit, won't you?" Leo said in an almost uncertain tone as he faced his family.

Splinter nodded as the others murmered that they would visit, and often since some of them were still determined to talk him out of this madness while others would visit for the simple joy of harassing Tempest.

When Tempest came back Leo asked her how the apartment looked and once she told him that there was more then enough room for them both, he nodded and grabbed her stuff and with one last look at his father and brothers asked for a few days or so to let her rest while they set the apartment up before visiting.

Splinter nodded his head in understanding, knowing that his son would want time to allow his mate to rest and to set up the apartment to be one big booby trap for anything unpleasant while trying to make himself comfortable as well.


	18. Chapter 18

The apartment was really something else.

Leo had thought so the first time he'd seen it and he thoughts so now, while standing in the middle of it. His thoughts dancing through his head with glee. _This_ was the nest that he would create for Tempest. The place that he would make into a home that she wouldn't want to leave.

And hopefully one day it would be the home where their children would run and laugh and play. The thought alone made him feel a warm sensation in the center of his chest.

Tempest walked over to the nearest piece of furniture- a couch- covered in plastic and dropped her bag then ripped the plastic off and sneezed a few times at the dust particals wafting around her. "Do you already know what you want to do with the place?" He asked, knowing that since it was to be their home he should include her in the decorating and such to keep her content.

"First thing is first- the yellow walls need new paint. A blue or mint, emerald and sage green combo should do."

Leo's lips quirked at her color choices but he didn't argue with her. Instead he simply asked, "And then?"

"Well we have tables, chairs and such. We might need materials to make up the bedroom-" She stopped speaking all of a sudden and looked a little uncomfortable as he raised his eye rides and cocked his head. From the way she spoke, it was almost as if she was thinking that they would share the same room right off the bat.

Or maybe she had simply been thinking about the future.

Whatever the reason, he figured he'd lay down the law for the time being and put her mind at ease. "Tempest, love-" Leo said as he crossed the small distance seperating them so that he could grasp her hand. "We won't be sharing the same room for a while. At least not until I know you better. I thought that since you have a spare room I'd take it until later on... If you don't mind that is."

"I don't mind, Leo. I guess I was just a bit worried about how the mechanics were supposed to work." Tempest said awkwardly as he squeezed her hand slightly to show that he understood and they didn't have to talk about it if she didn't want too.

"I'm not sure about the mechanics myself, but Don has said that since I'm anatomically correct; then all things are possible... But we don't have to worry about that now. This is the courtship phase."

"But you've already married me."

"So our relationship is a little bit unconventional-"

"Backwards, you mean."

Leo chuckled softly and lifted a hand to brush her hair back from her face, noting that she still looked tired and leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek then let her go. "Why don't you lay down for a little bit, hm. I can wake you up in a little while and I can talk to Don about borrowing the battle shell so that you and April can go shopping for what you need."

"What about you? What will you do?" Tempest asked as he led her over to the couch and gently pushed her down on it so that she was sitting for a second before he answered.

"I'll look around. Make a list of what's needed. Like dishes and stuff. Then once I'm done with that I'll be going home to grab a few things to bring back here... It's mostly books and small momento's that my father and brothers gave me over the years."

Tempest hummed, already slumped over some, her eyes closed- she was dangerously close to dozing off when she heard from a faint distance the sound of her own voice saying, "Have fun with that..."

A second later she was out and Leo was left shaking his head in awe. He had never, _never_ in his life seen someone doze off that quickly before. Which only served to tell him just how exhausted she had been.

And how amazing she was to hold herself together for so long in such stressful conditions.

Making a soft tsking sound he moved in close and slipped a hand behind her head and tipped her to the side so that she was laying down and carefully arranged her body so that she would be more comfortable. Then straightened his spine and headed back next door to ask if April would mind going with Tempest later to pick up what she needed.

And to ask Don if they could use the battle shell.


	19. Chapter 19

Three days later-

Leo stood in front of the couch shaking his head in awe. _How did she manage to get comfortable enough to do that?_ He wondered as he stared down at Tempest, whom had fallen asleep on the couch again for the second night in a row.

He sighed and looked her over, noting the semi buttoned overly big silver, black and teal shirt that she liked to sleep in, the still damp, dark strands of hair, curling around her face and shoulders, and the fluffy cream colored towel that hung from one of her hands as she lay snoozing so carlessly out in the open.

_Geez_. He'd never seen anyone conk out like his girl did.

And the truly disturbing part- Was that it was semi understandable despite the fact that she hadn't eaten anything just yet.

For the second day in a row since moving in with him, she had buisied herself with scrubbing the apartment from top to bottom, ridding it of dust and cobwebs. And then had spent _hours_ upon _hours_ out in town buying what they had needed. Like clothes, towels, dishes, things for the bedrooms. Bed covers, blankets, curtains, carpets ext.

So much so that when she had come home and unloaded everything out of the battle shell, the first thing she had done was collapse somewhere by the door and simply didn't move again until he either woke her up or carried her to bed.

Still, as bemusing as this was to him. It couldn't continue.

It was bad for her health and tended to worry him. Leaning down he placed one hand next to her head and nuzzled the soft curve of her cheek causing her to stir a little bit.

"Mmn?"

"Wake up Tempest-" He said softly yet firmly as he leaned just a bit more so that he could bury his face against the side of her neck and breathed on her, causing her to stir further. "Come on sweetheart." He encouraged as she turned over onto her back and looked at him through glazed, tired looking eyes as he pulled back a little bit.

"Mmn... Leo?"

"Hey, you fell asleep again." He said as he brushed her damp hair back from her face so that it was away from her eyes.

"Crap... I'm sorry-" She said as she lifted her hands to rub at her eyes.

"Don't be. From the way the apartment looks now, you have every reason to be tired..." Leo said with a note of pride in his voice due to how the apartment currently looked. All clean and sparkley, without even a speck of dust anywhere.

God she put _his_ cleaning binges to shame and that was really saying something considering that he had used to live in the sewers.

"I'm sensing you have something on your mind..."

Leo chuckled and leaned back down to kiss her lightly on the cheek. Finding it just a bit funny that the small contact left him feeling weak in the knees and dizzy from wanting more. "You are good at reading people aren't you, love." He said in an amused tone as he kissed her cheek again before moving away.

"So what is it?" She asked in a groggy sounding voice as she heard him move quietly around the room.

"My mind?" Leo echoed absently, not really wanting to bring up the fact that she hadn't eaten anything because he was worried it might cause an argument between them. After all, for all he knew her lack of an appetite was due to the stress she was under or possibly because she was dieting.

Not that she needed to diet any. She was gorgeous.

He was quiet for several more moments before going back over to the couch to try and talk her into eating something for him. He reached the couch and looked down at her, his mouth open to say something when he noticed that she was already asleep..._again_. And he closed his mouth and glared at her for a second.

Damn. How was he supposed to talk to her when she was like this?

It was like trying to carry on a conversation with a comatose person. It was vexing to say the least.

Leaning over the arm of the couch he stared at her, his face a mere scant inch from her own and muttered in a dark tone. "You're eating something tomorrow..." He'd make sure of it by cooking her something nice for breakfast. Until then he needed to do something with her before she caught a cold.

Moving around the couch until he was in front of it again he huffed a little bit then bent down and scooped her up off of the couch and was momentarily startled when she wrapped her arms around his neck in her sleep and tried to burrow closer to him through his plasteron.

His heart thudding in the same peculiar fashion it had been since he met her, he found his skin heating with a flush and tightened his hold on her a little bit. "You aren't going to make the next few months easy on me are you?" He asked his mate with a faint hint of amusement in his tone as he started walking.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)

Hun and several of the Purple dragons stood in the tiny apartment where the woman, Tempest Cynster had been found living five days ago- His expression murderous upon finding that the woman was gone.

Shouldn't she have still been there? After all she was just a college drop out from the country. She had no way of knowing that they would be coming after her. Hell, she probably hadn't even heard of them before and as such didn't know the dangers they represented.

So why was it that her apartment was empty at eleven p.m. at night despite the fact that her stuff remained? One of his men checked the closet, noting the clothes there while another checked the fridge noting the fresh food.

Feints, both of them. Leaving Hun to wonder if the woman even stayed in the cramped little apartment or if it was simply her way of laying a false trail.

"Sir, she can't be far. What do you want us to do?"

"I want you to be silent and fall back to the shadows. I want to see if the woman comes home or not." Hun said as he sat down on the fold out couch/bed to wait while he tried to think of what he would tell Misteress Kari to keep her from skinning him alive.


	20. Chapter 20

Leo didn't sleep a wink that night. Not since putting Tempest to bed in his room then leaving before he gave in to the strong desire to lay down next to her and hold her in his arms while she rested.

No, instead he had gone around the apartment checking out various things that she had bought to make the apartment a home for them.

He found it a little funny that she seemed to be easing herself into the role of a 'wife'. What was even more funny to him was that she was easing her way into the role of being _his_ wife.

The future leader of his clan.

She asked questions about his role in his family. Gathered the information she felt she needed then acted upon it. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant thing to know that she wasn't incompetent when it came to certain things. Like the traditions his family celebrated.

But it did make him wonder how she managed to be so flexable. Especially since other woman would find certain things daunting.

He walked through the living room, noting the cream and green and blue color scheme that made the room look like it was under water. It was fascinating really- the lengths that Tempest had gone through to make their home look wonderful, welcoming, and awe inspiring to him.

Honestly every time he stepped out of his bedroom, he had to pause and remind himself to breathe.

Everything just looked so- so _breathtaking_. It was like taking a walk under the ocean or in an aquarium.

Places that he had read about or only got to see at night or on TV. So seeing anything that even remotely reminded him of those things in the light of day was enough to make his breath catch in his throat and his heat constrict in his chest.

He walked by a little shelf hanging on the wall with three little glass vases with glittering colored marbles in the bottom of them, and smiled as the sunlight played across the little stones creating a rainbow in the room.

This was had to be one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen before. Second only to Tempest herself, that is.

He heard a groan from down the hallway, his keen sense of hearing picking up on the sound before a small creak was heard.

Turning around he quietly made his way back down the small hallway to where his bedroom was and silently opened the door to find Tempest sitting up in his bed, her dark hair tousled around her face and shoulders, her shirt sleeve slipping down to expose one creamy shoulder as she rubbed her eyes.

"Hey precious." He said as he leaned his shoulder against the door frame. His dark blue eyes drinking in the sight of her.

"Hey..." Tempest mumbled groggily as she dropped one hand from one of her eyes long enough to give him a little finger wiggle, causing him to grin as she took a moment to look around his room before climbing out of his bed and making her way over to him.

A little more awake now, she paused in front of him and muttered in a dark tone. "I fell asleep on the couch again, didn't I?"

He snickered and nodded his head as she ran her fingers through her dark hair, pushing it back from her face and growled, "What is it with that_ couch_? It's like it was sprinkled all over with sleeping powder!" Leo laughed softly and reached out and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against him and ran his hands up and down her back.

Tempest leaned into him and alternated between griping about the couch and making this adorable catlike purring sound that intriqued him. It reminded him of the purr from the cat that Mikey had brought home a few years ago for Christmas.

The soft, rumbling sound coming from the back of her throat was much lower than Mikey's cat's purr. It was positively enchanting to him. So much so that it made him reluctant to ask her what she had planned for today. "What do you have planned for today?"

She stopped purring for a second and perked up a little bit. "I thought I'd go looking for a job."

Leo was quiet for a moment, his good mood not quite squashed yet, he just felt a touch wary about letting her out of his sight again. He had taken far too many chances letting her out of his sight as it was. Especially since he knew that the Foot was likely looking for her. But he understood her need to work and do something to earn her keep.

He didn't particularly like it. But he understood it. "Where were you planning to look?" He asked curiously, wanting to know how far she planned to be. Just in case he got bored with roaming around an empty apartment and decided to shadow her.

"Not far-" Tempest said then explained to him that there was a small place within a block of where they lived that was looking for good bloggers, article writers, and ghost writers to work on books and novels. She even went so far as to explain which one of the positions she was going for.

Ghost writing for books and novels.

She would set up an site where she could be contacted by hopful authors or current ones where she would then get a brief letter about what they wanted written and then work from home for a generous sum.

Frankly by the time she was done speaking, Leo's mouth was hanging open in shock. He'd never met anyone who could literally do anything in the world with little effort before, but looking at his wife's smirk and the way her eyes sparkled... He sort of got the vague impression that she had done things like this before when she was younger.

_Well that sort of takes care of that worry-_ He thought as he asked. "Is there anything you can't do well?"

She made a humming sound before replying, "Hn, not really. My uncle was very thorough in educating me."

He snorted and let his arms fall until his hands rested on her hips. "Thorough my tail. That man was prepping you to be a soldier or something." He growled in a mock angry tone. Tempest giggled and then stood up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek then gently pushed against his plasteron to indicate that he should let her go.

She needed to use the bathroom and get ready to go out on her job hunt. He reluctantly let her go and moved aside so that she could squeeze past him and sighed. Man he would have liked to talk to that crazy uncle of hers at least once, but since he was already dead that idea was pointless.

Sighing again he waited until he heard the bathroom door close before moving back down the hall, finally recalling his vow from last night. He had a breakfast to cook for his wife.


	21. Chapter 21

Leo was standing over the stove, cooking a nice breakfast of french toast for Tempest when he heard the faint sounds of her moving through the apartment and paused and tilted his head to the side to see if he could pin point her exact location. It took a second but a squeaky floorboard in the hall gave her away as s he made her way into the livingroom.

Turning to see what she was up too, he blinked and looked over her outfit. She was wearing a nice teal and black striped sweater and a matching ankle length skirt that had ruffles around the hem. It wasn't exactly what he would have pictured for a job interview, but he supposed that she must have her reasons for wearing it.

There was only the faintest traces of makeup on her face. A nice soft peach/pink color and matching lipstick. And he could smell her...

She had the most wonderful floral scent he'd ever smelt before. He couldn't place it. But it reminded him of the time he and the rest of his family had been hiding out in the country at April's family farm.

There had been flowers there that had smelt _so_ nice that he would sometimes sneak off just so he could train in the area close to them. He had even debated on taking a few blossoms home with him when they left the farm, but he had never actually done it.

It would have given Raph just one more thing to make fun of him for.

"Mm, I smell something nice." Tempest said as she walked up to him and stopped next to him and wrapped her arms around him. Leo smiled and wrapped his arms around her smaller body and mused at how affectionate his mate was with him.

"I smell something nice too. What sort of perfume is that?"

"Sunflowers. I also have one in Honeysuckle, and another in Jasmine."

"Which one is your favorite?"

"All of them. But today I feel like a sunflower girl."

Leo made a humming sound and kissed the top of her head before asking, "When do you go for the job interview?"

"I have another hour and twenty minutes."

"Good." He said as he released her and then placed his hands on her shoulders and forcibly turned her around so that she was facing the small area that they had made into a dining room and gave her a small push in that direction as he said, "You haven't eaten in several days. So today before you leave, you're eating something or I'm calling my family over to help me bully you into eating something."

Tempest laughed softly, but made her way over to the kitchen table as he had bid her too. She wasn't about to argue with the guy feeding her, escpecially when she was _so_ hungry. She really needed to retrain herself not to skip meals, but with her sudden marriage and move to another part of the city so that she could go into hiding from the Foot- Well, she'd been feeling just a bit too stressed to bother eating anything.

Still...

She understood Leo's concerns. After all, if she continued to skip out on meals she might collapse and end up in a situation where the Foot could find her easily. And that absolutely would not do.

Something was placed in front of her, jolting her out of her thoughts and caused her to jerk and react like her uncle had trained her too. She was going to elbob whoever was leaning into her personal space when she recalled that the only people in the apartment were herself and Leo. But by then it was too late to stop herself, luckily for her, her new husband had much quicker reflexes and caught her arm effortlessly in one hand and looked at her with a frown as she stared back at him and paled.

"Tempest?"

"Oh god Leo, I'm sorry!"

"S'okay." Leo said easily as he placed a glass of juice and a fork and knife on the table beside her then backed off and pulled out the seat next to hers and dropped himself down into it with a thoughtful look on his face before asking. "What were you thinking about? You looked like you were a million miles away."

"I was thinking about the Foot Clan and the trouble they could cause us."

"Are you worried?"

"Yes. But not about myself. At least...I'm not as worried about myself as I should be." Leo gave her a humorless smile and reached out and wound a strand of her hair around one finger and tugged on it slightly before saying seriously.

"I won't let them near you Tempest. So put them from your mind."

Tempest looked at him and grappled with words for a second before slowly nodding her head and picking up her fork and knife and started eating while he sat there and watched.


	22. Chapter 22

Tempest was washing her dishes a few minutes later, feeling more than a little bit awkward about what had happened with Leo earlier. Honestly she hadn't meant to try and elbow him. She had simply been so deep in thought that his presence had slipped her mind.

She stuck her plate under the water and rinsed it then set it aside to dry when she sensed him behind her. She tensed up a little bit, expecting- well, she didn't know what she was expecting- but whatever she had thought he would do, she hadn't expected him to place his hands on her hips and press her against the sink and kiss her shoulder.

She made a small sound as her breathing hitched a little bit and let her eyes close as she felt him slowly hiking up her skirt. His rough fingers running along the smooth skin of her leg, up along her calf then up higher until he was touching her thigh. "Ah-"

"_Shhh_. You're tense. Try and relax for me." Leo said softly in her ear, his voice a low rumble that sent a shiver down her spine. She swallowed and leaned her back agaist his plasteron and nearly screamed when his fingers finally found her core and slowly started to stroke her through her lace panties.

_"O-Oh!"_ She breathed as her legs suddenly went weak. She might have fallen if not for the fact that he had his free arm around her waist.

"Lean forward and grip the sink and spread you're legs." Leo said in a growling tone, his breath close to her ear. Sending little shocks of pleasure along her spine as she nodded her head mutely and then did as he said and looked over her shoulder at him. Trying to figure out what he was going to do. She almost wanted him to forget about getting to know her better for the time being and take her right there.

But quickly shook off the thought when she recalled that she'd be late to her job interview.

Leo's mouth quirked up in a smirk at the sight of Tempest leaning over the sink, gripping it's edges in her delicate hands. She looked so beautiful that he felt that familiar itch in his lower plasteron as he lifted the back of her skirt all the way up to her hips and blinked at the delicate pink lace panties she was wearing under her skirt. And felt his control fray a bit as he move into place behind her, his hands lightly stroking the soft skin of her thighs.

"Pink lace. How daring." He said in a husky tone as he slipped a hand between her legs and stroked her through the fabric. Tempest gripped the sink a bit tighter and made a strained sound as her body responded to the caress.

Her breathing pattern became a bit more ragged and he could see her body trembling as he felt his fingertips becoming damp. "L-Leo-" Tempest said his name in a shakey voice thick with desire.

For him.

In all his years of living he had thought he would never live to see the day that someone desired him in such a way. It made his already fraying control slip just a bit more. It made him want her wetter, her soft body shaking- It made him want her with a desperation that bordered on savage.

Growling softly he seized her by the shoulder and quickly spun her around so that she was facing him and picked her up and placed her on the counter and kissed her. His mouth meeting hers in a brutal kiss that was painful for her as he jerked her skirt up around her hips, and slipped one hand inside of her panties and somehow, carefully probed her opening as she made a small sound and gripped his shoulders and pulled him closer.

He pulled back a bit, breaking the kiss and asked in a rumbling tone, "Are you a virgin?"

"Y-Yes."

Leo took a moment to digest the information then kissed her again and pulled back just enough to warn, "Then hold onto my shoulders tightly. This may hurt." Tempest looked like she didn't understand what he was saying for a moment but then jumped and yelped as he pushed one of his fingers inside of her. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, biting into his skin and drawing blood as tears sprang into her eyes, her breath coming out in harsh little spurts as he kissed her lips, her cheeks, her eye lids, and temples-

His free hand slipping around her back to rub it in a soothing manner as she slowly eased her grip on his shoulders and seemed to relax again as he muttered several apologies to her. He hadn't realized that he would hurt her like that, if he had, he never would have touched her in the first place.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, Leo." She said after a moment or so as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Knowing that she had inadvertently worried him. She could see that he wanted to believe her, but he seemed either worried or scared that he may be hurting her even more if he continued.

He started to withdraw his finger from her body when she stopped him by catching him by surprise and wrapping her legs around him and dragging him back into place with his hand trapped between them. "Nnn."

"Tempest, you should let go-"

"No."

"Sweetheart-" Leo said warningly, hoping that if he used the same tone he used with his brothers that she might listen to reason and let him go. She gave him a bored look that reminded him of Raph and said stubbornly.

"I said no, Leo. Now finish what you started." Sighing in defeat he lowered his head to touch it to hers and experimentally moved his hand, pulling back then pushing his finger deeper inside of her. Tempest gasped at the sensation and shuddered.

Leo watched her face for any signs of discomfort and asked in a low, wary tone, "Does it still hurt?"

"Ah... No. I-It feels...nice."

"Think I can get you to cum before your job interview?" Leo asked with a wicked smile. Tempest mirrored his smile with one of her own and kissed him before pulling back and saying.

"That depends, do you want to cum too?" Leo blinked at her as her words registered in his mind and he groaned.

"God yes."


	23. Chapter 23

Leo pulled the comfortor up over Tempest's sleeping form and looked around the apartment feeling as if he'd just been dropped on his head by a hurricane. _Whoa-_ He hadn't expected this to happen so soon. In fact he had wanted to spend a month or two getting to know Tempest first.

But the moment she had asked him if he wanted to cum too, he had quite simply lost his mind. Literally. It had been as if he hadn't been in control of his own body. And Tempest had the scratchs, bite marks and hickeys to prove it.

He shifted a little bit, wanting to get up and move around but his body was still joined with hers.

His instinct telling him that the second he pulled out, his seed would leak out and then he would need to take her again. So instead he laid back down beside her and kissed her shoulder, right over one of the red teeth marks that he had put on her skin.

He closed his eyes to rest and shuddered as images from before slithered through his mind. Tempest had been so beautiful. And passionate, god in heaven, she had nearly brought him to his knees...several times.

And he had satisfied her four times before finally initiating sex with her.

She had been naked on the floor, her skin sweaty and flushed, her hair damp, her fingernails clawing at the floor of the bedroom as he had thrust into her for the first time. He had been amazed that her body had been able to take him, he had been so swollen and aching. He must have been at least nine in a half inches long and almost as thick as her wrist.

Frankly he was surprised that he hadn't ripped her apart in his need induced state.

He even recalled that enchanting gasping sounds she made, the soft mews that she had tried to muffle by biting her lower lip. The way she had tasted like honey on his tongue everytime he had kissed her. The softness of her skin as he had run his hands over her body before he had crushed her body against his own, using one hand to lock her into place as he came.

Flooding her womb with his cum.

He opened his eyes again with an small groan. _Oh damn-_ He wasn't going to get any rest like this. Shifting slightly, Tempest stirred next to him and cracked open an eye causing him to freeze. Unsure if he should apologize for his earlier behavior or simply smile and tell her she was amazing then ask if he had hurt her.

He was a mite torn between the latter.

"Hi." Tempest said in a groggy tone as she slowly turned over to look at him while making sure that their bodies remained joined. A small task, but it was a task nevertheless.

Leo's green skin flushed a bit as he answered almost shyly. "H-Hey-" Tempest smiled at him and he felt his heart do this odd flip flop in his chest as he asked tentatively, "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"Mmm, no more than I expected." She said as she reached up and placed a palm against the side of his face and used her thumb to stroke his skin as she asked him if he was okay. He gave her this funny look then shook his head and almost laughed.

He could have split her in half earlier and she was asking if _he_ was okay. He didn't get it, but for some reason it calmed his nervousness a bit. "So...uh..what now?" He asked stupidly, feeling at a loss about what to do.

Tempest's smile widened. Ah, her naieve husband. He was so cute when he was at a loss about what to do next. "What do you want to do now?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I-uh...don't know what to do. So I was hoping that you could tell me what I'm supposed to do now." Leo said.

"You could start by kissing me."

Leo got a wicked look in his eyes and snorted. "I'm not sure that I should since kissing you last time led to this." Tempest's smile faded a little bit as she wondered if he regreted making love to her. But she quickly dismissed the thought when she took his personality into account.

Leo wasn't the type to regret something as beautiful as the joining of two hearts. He was however the type to worry that he may have hurt her. Which may be the cause of his current mood.

He was thinking too much, Tempest supposed as she rose up on her elbows a little bit and felt a slight pain that she wasn't sure what to think of. It was coming from deep inside of her, close to the place where she could feel the head of his cock touching. It was a little bit of an uncomfortable sensation for her given his length and girth.

"You're still inside of me." She said in a low tone as she looked around the room before locating a clock. It had been close to three hours since they had coupled and while she found the fact that he was still inside of her a little bit strange she didn't really question it. Leo gave her a slightly nervous look, unsure of what to say to her about that.

So instead he slowly pulled out and moved away from her, pushing the covers back a little bit as he did so. Tempest made a small hissing sound that she tried to pretend meant nothing, but he knew better. Some part of her must be sore otherwise she wouldn't have made the sound. And since he hadn't exactly been gentle with her like he had hoped he would be, he couldn't help but feel guilty.

"I think I need to soak in some water for a while." Tempest said as she pushed herself up into a sitting position as Leo practically threw himself from the bed, startling her a bit as he said.

"Stay there and don't move! I'll fix the bath for you!"


	24. Chapter 24

Yo, sorry that this chapter is so short. I got to the last sentence and then my mind just fizzled out on me. It happens when you have so many things to work on at once, ya know.

Anyways the next chapter should be longer.

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"I guess that this means you missed your interview." Leo said sullenly as he ran his fingertips along Tempest's back causing her to shiver slightly. Finding it just a little odd that he wasn't feeling terribly happy at the moment after what had happened between himself and his wife earlier. Possibly because she had missed her chance at the job she wanted.

Then again it could be because he was consciously aware of the fact that he had hurt her, even just a bit. It was too much. Tempest smiled at him and then splashed him with some of the water in the tub earning a small forced laugh from him before she replied.

"It's okay." Tempest said, trying to pacify him and make him feel better.

"Is it really?" He asked, recalling her earlier excitment and feeling a stab of guilt. Tempest gave him a smile and leaned her body against the side of the bath tub and buried her face against his inner elbow. Leo smiled and used his free hand to play with her hair. Winding and unwinding the strands from around his index finger.

"It is-" Tempest said, her voice muffled against his skin before she lifted her head and said, "I can set up a site online for ghost writers and probably have my first eight or nine visitors within an hour." Leo studied her for a moment, thinking that it couldn't possibly be _that_ easy to do what she was saying.

He imagined that it would take time. Days, weeks, perhaps even months before her site got any business.

"I'm not exactly sure if a web site recently posted will work out like you think-" Leo sarted to warn her when he felt small teeth latch onto his inner elbow and yelped as Tempest turned her head just enough to glare at him. He blinked at her as she reached out with one hand and gripped his shoulder and released his inner elbow before licking the spot she had just bitten.

Leo jerked a bit, he felt the rasp of her tongue along his skin and shuttered. "Tempest-" He growled warningly as he felt trendles of newly rekindled desire settling in his lower stomach. "You're sore from earlier, so I suggest you stop before things get out of hand." He said as his breathing started to hitch a little bit.

Tempest lifted her head from his arm and looked at him with eyes that clearly stated that she was willing to give it a try. Even if her body wasn't up to it at the moment.

He groaned and hooked his hand around her nape and pulled her up out of the water a bit so that he could kiss her- when he heard the doorbell. Twisting his head around in annoyance, he swore softly and let Tempest go as he wondered, "Are you expecting someone?"

"No. Not to my knowledge." She said with a shake of her head. Leo frowned and slowly got up out of the floor and looked back down at her and said,

"You might need to get dressed, just in case it's someone from the Foot or something."

Tempest looked down at her nice comfy bath and growled out an slightly accented, "Well hell-" And then stood up and grabbed the towel that Leo held out to her.

"If it's someone from the Foot do you think you can push yourself to get dressed within three minutes?"

"Without a bra I can be done in two."

Leo snorted in amusment all while thinking, _I'd like very much to see that. _


End file.
